State’s new safety rules for abortion go into effect

Sixty-seven women dressed in white lined up along the sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood’s Reproductive Health Services abortion clinic in St. Louis.

Each held a sign with a date on it.

“Each one of us represents a woman we know about who has been harmed in this place since 2009,” said Kathy Forck, a member of St. Andrew parish in Holts Summit and co-coordinator of the Central Missouri 40 Days for Life Campaign.

“We remember that they were sent by ambulance transport and ask for an accounting,” she said. “We ask the Governor to investigate what happened to them and to launch an investigation into Planned Parenthood in St Louis.”

The women in white were part of one of five press conferences held simultaneously on Oct. 24 on the sidewalks outside the Planned Parenthood clinics in Columbia, Joplin, Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield.

At each, speakers praised state lawmakers and Gov. Eric Greitens for passing Senate Bill 5 in a special legislative session this summer, and called on Gov. Greitens to use his authority under state law to suspend the abortion license for the St. Louis clinic until its practices can be investigated.

“Women and men on both sides of the issue are urged to join us in supporting an immediate investigation of and accounting for the 67 injured women taken away by ambulance” at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood, stated state Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch of Hallsville at a press conference outside the Columbia Planned Parenthood.

“Additionally, we assert that the issuance of licenses to additional Planned Parenthood locations in Missouri must be postponed until such time that the safety of Missouri women can be secured,” she said.

Under a court order, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services this month granted Planned Parenthood an abortion license for its Columbia clinic. Chemical abortions were set to resume there on Oct. 17, but the abortion doctor failed to arrive.

The press conferences were held on the day SB 5 went into effect. Supported by the Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) and other pro-life agencies in the state, the new law requires unannounced inspections of abortion clinics, overturns St. Louis’ so-called “abortion sanctuary” ordinance and prohibits other municipalities from passing similar ordinances, among other things.

The new law also requires women seeking an abortion to receive information during a face-to-face consultation with the doctor who will be performing the abortion, 72 hours ahead of the procedure.

Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union have sued to have the law rescinded and had hoped to convince Circuit Court Judge S. Margene Burnett of Kansas City to grant a temporary injunction. That would have prevented the law from going into effect until the litigation is completed.

Judge Burnett did not grant the injunction.

It remains unclear if Planned Parenthood can continue providing abortions in light of the new safety regulations put in place by SB 5.

“This is very good news,” stated Deacon Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, an independent pro-life lobbying organization. “But whatever happens, it will only be the first step in what could be a long and involved case to defend and enforce the commonsense health and safety abortion regulations enacted by the Missouri General Assembly and Gov. Greitens this summer.”

Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is appealing a recent court ruling striking down several of the state’s other restrictions, based on a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down abortion restrictions in Texas.

Like Mr. Hawley, the speakers at all five Oct. 24 press conferences pointed to the 67 documented instances since June 2009 in which women were taken by ambulance from the St. Louis Planned Parenthood.

“Their safety matters, as does the safety of every woman in Missouri,” Rep. Toalson Reisch stated.