ST. LOUIS — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey took a significant step last week, filing a lawsuit against a Planned Parenthood organization affiliate and alleging it violated state laws.
The lawsuit accuses the affiliate of facilitating the transportation of minors into Kansas for abortions.
The legal action was prompted by alleged camera footage obtained by the far-right activist group Project Veritas. The footage purportedly shows Planned Parenthood staffers transporting minors across state lines to obtain abortions without parental consent.
In the legal filing, Bailey referenced the covert video, claiming it revealed Planned Parenthood's use of altered doctors' notes to remove minors from school and transport them to Kansas for the procedures.
These actions constitute a clear violation of Missouri law, according to Bailey, particularly regarding parental rights. Bailey emphasized the importance of parental involvement in such decisions, stating that allowing a child to obtain an abortion without parental counsel goes against the deeply rooted traditions of the nation.
“This is the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood in the State of Missouri," Bailey said in a provided statement. "What they conceal and conspire to do in the dark of night has now been uncovered. I am filing suit to ensure it never happens again."
Bailey said children are the future.
"As a father who held my daughter in my arms for the single hour of her life before she died, I know firsthand how important it is to protect life," Bailey said. "Our children are the future. It is time to eradicate Planned Parenthood once and for all to end this pattern of abhorrent, unethical, and illegal behavior."
Planned Parenthood Great Plains has a troubling history of legal violations, the lawsuit filed in Boone County Circuit Court, states.
It notes that in 2018, their Columbia facility was shut down due to health-code violations, including the use of moldy abortion equipment on patients. Physicians also admitted in court to not complying with state law, which required reporting medical complications from abortions for at least 15 years.
Despite claims of compliance in 2017, a physician was found to have continued violating this law in 2020, the complaint states.
Additionally, Missouri law mandates that the physician performing an abortion must inform the woman of the risks, but Planned Parenthood physicians were not doing so, according to the suit.
In the lawsuit, Bailey claims that a video revealed more disturbing practices, as Planned Parenthood staff admitted to trafficking minors across state lines for abortions without parental consent.
The staff confessed to doing this "every day" and using altered doctors' notes to remove minors from school, transporting them to Kansas for abortions, and quickly returning them to avoid parental knowledge, according to the suit.
Bailey claims this activity directly violates Missouri law, which prohibits minors from obtaining abortions without parental or informed consent, even if the procedure occurs in another state.
Planned Parenthood's actions are seen as a violation of fundamental parental rights deeply rooted in U.S. history.
The organization is accused of inducing minors into making life-changing decisions without proper consent, a practice explicitly prohibited by Missouri law and the legal argument is made that the court should swiftly intervene with injunctive relief to halt Planned Parenthood's activities, citing Missouri law and the organization's history of non-compliance with state regulations.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains President and CEO Emily Wales denied the accusations in the lawsuit.
"We will continue following state and federal laws and proudly providing Missourians with the compassionate sexual and reproductive care that remains available to them in a state with a total abortion ban," Wales said in the statement.