“A Real Public Health Crisis”: Missouri About To Lose Its Last Abortion Provider

ST LOUIS, MO - MAY 28: The exterior of a Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center is seen on May 28, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. In the wake of Missouri recent controversial abortion legislation, the states' last abortion clinic is being forced to close by the end of the week. Planned Parenthood is expected to go to court to try and stop the closing. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

Missouri is about to become the first — but, many believe, not the last — state without a single place for a woman to get a legal abortion.

The only abortion provider left in the state — a lone Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis — said Tuesday it expects to be shut down before the week is out.

“In a statement Tuesday,” reports CBS News, “Planned Parenthood said Missouri’s health department is ‘refusing to renew’ its annual license to provide abortion in the state. If the license is not renewed by May 31 [Friday], Missouri would become the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was decided.”

"Those people will not be safe": Jennifer Box, a Planned Parenthood patient in Missouri, says an abortion ban won't stop people from ending unwanted pregnancies. It will only make the procedure more dangerous https://t.co/OEy6q9GJKE pic.twitter.com/gViTIpBa16
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 28, 2019

Planned Parenthood officials said they were filing suit in state court, seeking a restraining order to prevent the shutdown.

“This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis,” said Dr. Leana Wen, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement.

If the license is not renewed, “more than 1.1 million women of reproductive age in Missouri will live in a state where they cannot receive the health care they need,” Dr. Wen said in her statement, cited by National Public Radio.

Unless a judge intervenes, officials will force a Missouri health center to stop offering abortions this week, which would make Missouri the first state without an abortion clinic. https://t.co/YQ8IEAEmls
— NPR (@NPR) May 28, 2019

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services wants to require doctors who perform abortions at the health center to submit to questioning about “potential deficient practices,” as a condition of renewing the license.

“The state has indicated that the result of those interviews could be ‘board review’ in addition to ‘criminal proceedings,’ a Planned Parenthood spokesperson told CBS.

“In her statement, Wen described the state’s actions as ‘harassment’ meant to ‘intimidate’ physicians who perform abortions,” says NPR.

One of the Planned Parenthood physicians, Dr. Colleen McNicholas, told CBS: “We are 100 percent committed to the best care that we can provide for patients. So certainly if there is an issue with the care we’re providing we want to know about it. We want to be able to address that. But we can’t do that when we’re being attacked.”

Even if it is prevented from performing abortions, Planned Parenthood would be able to offer non-abortion health services for women in Missouri.