Last Missouri Abortion Clinic Could Shutter As State Withholds Permit Renewal

The Planned Parenthood Central Phoenix Health Center sign is viewed in Phoenix, Arizona on February 2, 2017. / AFP / Laura Segall (Photo credit should read LAURA SEGALL/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Missouri Department of Health is withholding a license renewal from the state’s only abortion clinic, a move that would effectively end abortions in the state should the provider lose its permit.

According to CBS News, the Health Department alerted the Planned Parenthood clinic to three issues with its license renewal. Planned Parenthood fixed two of them, but said it had no control over the third: making available doctors who provide services at the clinic, but are not its employees, for a department investigation into “deficient practices.”

Other clinics in Missouri shuttered after the state passed a new regulation requiring that clinics administer a pelvic exam via pill for women seeking abortions.

“When I say an unnecessary pelvic exam what I mean is that the state is forcing me to put my fingers in somebody’s vagina when it is totally medically irrelevant,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, a Planned Parenthood doctor in Missouri, told CBS. “That is really bordering on harassment… I am really proud of our clinicians for taking a stand and saying you know we just won’t do that to patients.”

Planned Parenthood intends to sue the state if the clinic loses its license.

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Notable Replies

  1. Make them pay. Boycott anything associated with Missouri.

  2. The RAPE Act, I guess it must have been called.

  3. Zero abortions . Success as far as they’re concerned
    Hard to know if there’s anything to impact .
    Most of the state’s counties have a population density between 1 and 100 people per square mile, although the large urban areas have a population density that reaches over 5,000 people per square mile.
    In terms of preferred religions through the state’s population, we can see 77% have an affiliation with a Christian based faith, 3% are involved in non-Christian based faiths, and 20% are unaffiliated with any faith in particular.

  4. Time to send a donation to Planned Parenthood in Missouri. I am sad that my donations may be going to legal fees instead of patient care.

  5. Can it sue now or does it have to wait until it loses its licence?

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