Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri is suing Attorney General Andrew Bailey who is demanding access to their transgender-affirming care records.
"Following discovery that Planned Parenthood provides life-altering gender transition drugs to children without any therapy assessment, we asked them to provide basic documents to explain themselves, including why its procedures depart so far from any recognized standard of care,” Bailey tweeted on March 31.
The lawsuit was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court after Bailey sent a Civil Investigative Demand containing more than 50 separate queries.
“Planned Parenthood knows this playbook well, and we’ll move forward just like we have in every other sham investigation — we’ll continue providing expert and evidence-based health care while we fight in court,” said Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, in a statement online.
HIPAA-protected patient health information is among the records Bailey is pursuing along with documents that mention "social media" or "Tik Tok," according to media reports.
Bailey's office blasted Planned Parenthood for not producing the requested records.
"We look forward to prevailing in this request for information and learning what is truly going on with Planned Parenthood in connection with gender transition issues," Bailey spokeswoman Madeline Sieren told the St. Louis Post Dispatch last week.
On April 13, Bailey issued an emergency rule that limits gender-affirming healthcare for teens and adults.
The regulation becomes effective on April 27 and requires informed written consent, screening for social media addiction, screening for autism, and assurance that the patient is not experiencing social gender identity contagion.
"Planned Parenthood is suing over the attorney general's so-called investigation into gender clinics and while it seems like they are both a product of this political attack on gender-affirming care, the emergency rules is, at least legally, separate from the investigation," said Nora Huppert, staff attorney with Lambda Legal, a national legal group that represents LGBTQ persons. As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Lambda Legal is considering suing AG Bailey over the emergency rule.
Planned Parenthood began offering additional appointments and pop-up clinics to new gender-affirming care patients this week at locations in Springfield and St. Louis, and in Fairview Heights, Illi., which is just east of the city of St. Louis.
"It's commendable that healthcare providers are standing up to these misguided and politically motivated investigations," Huppert told the St. Louis Record.