Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has issued an order halting Planned Parenthood abortion facilities in his state from dispensing abortion pills.
In an order released March 12, Bailey notified Planned Parenthood–Great Rivers that it was “hereby ordered under penalty of law not to perform any chemical abortions in Missouri” because it failed to comply with a state law requiring abortion clinics to have “a valid plan to treat complications from chemically induced abortions.”
In the order, Bailey cited statistics finding that “up to 4.6% of women who receive chemical abortions are forced to seek medical attention.”
“Missouri law requires you to adopt an approved plan to treat complications when using any chemical ‘in which more than 1 percent of the drug or chemical required surgical intervention after its administration,’” he wrote. “You do not have an approved plan in place.”
According to Bailey, “Physicians at Planned Parenthood organizations in Missouri have recently conceded—under oath—to violating the law and have been found by investigators and tribunals to have violated Missouri’s laws many times in recent years. These violations include repeated and knowing failures to comply with reporting requirements, to comply with informed consent laws, and to sterilize instruments.”
Planned Parenthood Missouri contends that their abortion complication treatment plan was submitted to the Department of Health and Senior Services in February but not acknowledged by the state.
Sue Liebel, state affairs director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, praised Bailey’s actions in a statement: “In Missouri, they’ve been caught using moldy abortion equipment and abetting the trafficking of minors without saying a word to parents.”
“We’re thankful Missouri has strong pro-life leaders like Attorney General Bailey, who—unlike pro-abortion blue states—won’t tolerate the Big Abortion Industry, led by Planned Parenthood, profiting at women’s and children’s expense,” Liebel added.
Bailey sent the abortion provider a notice of intent letter March 5 before issuing his cease and desist order a week later.
“Planned Parenthood has a long history of disregarding the health and safety of Missouri women,” Bailey stated in a press release. “The courts have stripped away basic licensing requirements that protect women, but I will not stand by while Planned Parenthood continues to flout the law and put women’s lives at risk.”
According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Planned Parenthood Missouri has violated health and safety standards repeatedly for women and girls:
- In 2024, the State of Missouri sued when a Planned Parenthood of the Great Plains employee was caught on video offering to help a man transport a 13-year-old girl out of state for an abortion, saying, “We never tell the parents anything. She’s an adult in our clinics.”
- In 2020, the Administrative Hearing Commission determined that even though Missouri law at the time required that the same physician who performs an abortion be the one to notify the woman of the risks of abortion, physicians at Planned Parenthood were not doing so.
- In 2018, following at least a half-decade of health-code violations, Planned Parenthood’s Columbia facility was shut down after staff admitted to using moldy abortion equipment on women for months.
- Also in 2018, Planned Parenthood physicians conceded in open court that, for at least 15 years, the organization failed to comply with state law requiring physicians performing abortions to file reports when women experience medical complications from abortions.
“Planned Parenthood has become a multi-billion-dollar abortion giant, ending the lives of nearly 400,000 unborn children a year and taking in $2 million a day from taxpayers, all while flouting laws that protect health and safety,” Liebel said.
Photo: Courtesy of Family Research Council