Latest news with #PlannedParenthoodGreatRivers
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Planned Parenthood must comply with Missouri AG request for patient records, court rules
Attorney General Andrew Bailey answers reporters' questions on Jan. 13 in the Missouri Capitol. Bailey has been fighting a series of challenges of his civil investigative demands as he seeks to investigate gender-affirming care in Missouri (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Planned Parenthood Great Rivers must turn over documents about gender-affirming care to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, an appeals court ruled Tuesday morning. Bailey has been looking into the use of cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and gender-transition surgeries for minors in the state since March 2023, when a former case worker at the Washington University Transgender Center claimed the center rushed children into treatment. As part of his probe into Washington University and 'other providers,' Bailey's office sent civil investigative demands to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Washington University in St. Louis and the state's two branches of Planned Parenthood — all of which have fought to protect patient information. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which oversees clinics in St. Louis and southwest Missouri, refused to turn over documents to Bailey, challenging his request as a misuse of Missouri's consumer protection law and a violation of federal patient privacy law. A St. Louis Circuit Court judge ruled last year that the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act allows the attorney general to investigate deceptive medical practices but doesn't supersede HIPAA. HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, protects patients from providers disclosing their personally identifiable health information. For Bailey to get certain records from Planned Parenthood, Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Stelzer ruled in April of last year, patients would have to sign away their HIPAA rights. But Tuesday's judgment, written by Judge Rebeca Navarro-McKelvey of Missouri's Eastern District Court of Appeals, said HIPAA doesn't prevent Planned Parenthood from providing de-identified records. Additionally, Planned Parenthood didn't provide the attorney general a privilege log, or a list of exceptions to Bailey's requests, to assess each claim. A Western District Court of Appeals ruling filed in April against Missouri's other Planned Parenthood affiliate also took issue with the lack of a privilege log. In both cases, the appellate courts rejected the notion that Planned Parenthood was exempt from the entire investigative demand, but further court proceedings can assess whether some of the attorney general's 54 requests are protected from disclosure. 'Crucially, a blanket HIPAA-based objection does not make the CID unenforceable,' Navarro-McKelvey wrote in Tuesday's ruling. 'As the burden is on (Planned Parenthood Great Rivers) as the covered entity to comply with HIPAA when responding to subpoenas.' Planned Parenthood's attorney, Matthew Eddy, argued the opposite in a circuit court hearing last June, saying the Attorney General's Office must prove exceptions to HIPAA in its request. The Eastern District Court of Appeals will soon hear patient-privacy arguments in a separate lawsuit between Bailey and Washington University. The case's arguments in circuit court established that unredacted patient information was exempt from Bailey's demands and some data was irrelevant to his search. Among his requests to Washington University, Bailey's office asked for 'access to all electronic health records of clients.' Bailey appealed that decision, saying his access to the information was 'inevitable' under state law. 'While we are disappointed with the court's decision, we are evaluating our next steps as this is just another political attack against the bodily autonomy and rights of transgender and gender-nonconforming Missourians,' said Margot Riphagen, president and CEO Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. 'As a trusted health care provider, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers will continue to support our gender affirming care patients across the St. Louis region and Missouri Ozarks while ensuring our patients' health information remains secure and protected.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Planned Parenthood Great Rivers resumes abortions
ST. LOUIS – Planned Parenthood Great Rivers (PPGR)—a reproductive health clinic in St. Louis—said that it will be resuming procedural abortion care at its health center. The clinic announced its decision Friday, saying that its first procedures were performed this week. Ever since Nov. 5, Missourians voted for reproductive rights, approving Amendment 3 for Reproductive Freedom. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'Our medical and patient services teams have been working diligently to prepare to provide this essential health care,' said Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. 'We stand ready to welcome more patients to ensure they can get the care they need, when they need it.' Dr. Margaret Baum, interim Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, says that the clinic has served patients from about 30 states. PPGR says that it will continue its advocacy for Amendment 3's full implementation in courts, ensuring that individuals have equitable access to reproductive resources. The clinic urges patients who are seeking cancer screenings, birth control or other reproductive resources to make an appointment or call 1-800-230-PLAN (7526). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri AG orders Planned Parenthood to stop medication abortions they don't offer
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued cease-and-desist orders against Planned Parenthood facilities in the state to bar them from offering medication abortions even though they do not provide them. 'Planned Parenthood has a documented history of subverting state law, including failure to file complication reports,' Bailey said in a press release issued Wednesday. 'This cease and desist letter ensures that basic health and safety standards are met. Given Planned Parenthood's history, I will continue to ensure their compliance with state law.' Missourians voted to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution last November, but abortion services were paused and only recently restarted at the state's two Planned Parenthood clinics: Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Both clinics began performing only surgical abortions in Missouri this month since, under state law, neither facility can provide patients with abortion medication until they receive approval for a complication plan. The orders come roughly a week after Bailey issued a notice of intent to file a cease-and-desist order against the Planned Parenthood clinics for allegedly violating Missouri state law. Bailey claims in a press release published along with the orders that the clinics are offering medication abortions without approved complication plans. Both Planned Parenthood clinics said they are not providing medication abortions in accordance with state law and, in a statement, added they submitted complication plans in February but have yet to receive a response from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Margot Riphagen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, called the orders 'baseless political posturing. 'There is nothing to cease or desist,' she said in a statement sent to The Hill. 'Missouri's Planned Parenthood health centers have complied with the law, and have been waiting weeks for approval of our complication plan in order to begin offering medication abortion to our patients.' She added that the attorney general should enforce a timeline for the Department of Health and Senior Services to respond to the complication plan. 'Medication abortion has not been available at our Missouri health centers since 2018, and we will not provide medication abortion until we meet legal requirements,' said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. The Department of Health and Senior Services did not respond to questions from The Hill about the complication plans submitted by both Planned Parenthood health clinics. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Abortion care has resumed in Missouri after voters enshrined rights. Providers fear it won't last
Abortion clinics have resumed service in Missouri after voters opted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and a federal judge temporarily blocked restrictions that had lingered after the election. Abortion providers in the state worry the restoration of access could soon be undone, however, given the breadth of anti-abortion bills being considered by the state legislature. 'I'm happy and optimistic but in the back of my mind I do worry,' said Margaret Baum, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, one of two abortion providers in the state outside of hospitals. 'Are we going to go backwards again?' Republican lawmakers in Missouri introduced a slew of bills aimed at weakening or getting rid of the state's newabortion protections at the beginning of the state legislative session in January. Those bills include two proposed constitutional amendments, the first of whichwould outlaw the procedure except in medical emergencies and in cases with fetal anomalies,as well as in some cases involving rape or incest if patients presented required documentation. Lawmakers held a public hearing on the measure last month, a few weeks before abortion services resumed in the state. If the amendmentpasses the state's General Assembly, Missourians could vote on whether to adopt itas early as this year. The second proposed amendment would make abortion illegal after the point of fetal viability, around 24 weeks into pregnancy. Other abortion-related bills state lawmakers have introduced also seek to change at what point an abortion can be performed. House Bill 194,for instance, seeks to prohibit the procedure in Missouri after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. Lawmakers have targeted medication abortion as well, including in a bill proposing the abortion drug mifepristone be reclassified as a Class IV controlled substance — just as it was under a law passed by Republicans in Louisiana last year. 'The legislature has shown its cards,' said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the second abortion provider in the state. 'They don't want people to get reproductive care. They don't trust people to make their own medical decisions.' Missouri became the first state to overturn a near-total ban on abortion last year whenvoters approved a constitutional amendment to include a fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Abortions had previouslybeen outlawed in Missouri since 2022, when the state became the first in the country to enact a trigger law banning the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After Roe was overturned, the state's Planned Parenthood branches were still connecting people to abortions, but Missourians had to travel to clinics in neighboring states Kansas and Illinois. Soon after the constitutional amendment was approved in November, Planned Parenthood sued the state for its abortion ban and a number of other restrictions on the procedure. A Jackson County Circuit Court judge ruled in Decemberthat the ban was unenforceable, but did not issue any judgments regarding the state's other abortion laws, like one requiring abortion facilities to be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The same Jackson County judge issued a temporary injunction on the clinical requirements in February after Planned Parenthood argued they made it impossible for it to provide abortions in the state, allowing the organization to perform the procedure again. The case is slated to go to trial again in 2026. Even if none of the proposed legislation passes this year, the future of abortion access in the state will remain precarious until a final decision on the case is made next January, according to Baum. For now, however, abortion providers at both Planned Parenthood affiliates arereturning to more normal abortion services,though theycan only provide surgical abortions for the time being. The clinics will not be able to give patients abortion pills until the state approves a required plan for reporting complications from taking the drugs. A Planned Parenthood in Colombia, Mo., started to schedule and see patients for surgical abortions this week. 'As a physician, and just as a human in general, [I think] it is always better for people to get the care they need in the community they live in,' said Imam Alsaden, chief medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. 'Or at least as close to the community they live in as possible.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
06-03-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Abortion care has resumed in Missouri after voters enshrined rights. Providers fear it won't last
Abortion clinics have resumed service in Missouri after voters opted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and a federal judge temporarily blocked restrictions that had lingered after the election. Abortion providers in the state worry the restoration of access could soon be undone, however, given the breadth of anti-abortion bills being considered by the state legislature. 'I'm happy and optimistic but in the back of my mind I do worry,' said Margaret Baum, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, one of two abortion providers in the state outside of hospitals. 'Are we going to go backwards again?' Republican lawmakers in Missouri introduced a slew of bills aimed at weakening or getting rid of the state's newabortion protections at the beginning of the state legislative session in January. Those bills include two proposed constitutional amendments, t he first of which would outlaw the procedure except in medical emergencies and in cases with fetal anomalies,as well as in some cases involving rape or incest if patients presented required documentation. Lawmakers held a public hearing on the measure last month, a few weeks before abortion services resumed in the state. If the amendmentpasses the state's General Assembly, Missourians could vote on whether to adopt itas early as this year. The second proposed amendment would make abortion illegal after the point of fetal viability, around 24 weeks into pregnancy. Other abortion-related bills state lawmakers have introduced also seek to change at what point an abortion can be performed. House Bill 194,for instance, seeks to prohibit the procedure in Missouri after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. Lawmakers have targeted medication abortion as well, including in a bill proposing the abortion drug mifepristone be reclassified as a Class IV controlled substance — just as it was under a law passed by Republicans in Louisiana last year. 'The legislature has shown its cards,' said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the second abortion provider in the state. 'They don't want people to get reproductive care. They don't trust people to make their own medical decisions.' Missouri became the first state to overturn a near-total ban on abortion last year whenvoters approved a constitutional amendment to include a fundamental right to reproductive freedom. Abortions had previouslybeen outlawed in Missouri since 2022, when the state became the first in the country to enact a trigger law banning the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After Roe was overturned, the state's Planned Parenthood branches were still connecting people to abortions, but Missourians had to travel to clinics in neighboring states Kansas and Illinois. Soon after the constitutional amendment was approved in November, Planned Parenthood sued the state for its abortion ban and a number of other restrictions on the procedure. A Jackson County Circuit Court judge ruled in Decemberthat the ban was unenforceable, but did not issue any judgments regarding the state's other abortion laws, like one requiring abortion facilities to be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The same Jackson County judge issued a temporary injunction on the clinical requirements in February after Planned Parenthood argued they made it impossible for it to provide abortions in the state, allowing the organization to perform the procedure again. The case is slated to go to trial again in 2026. Even if none of the proposed legislation passes this year, the future of abortion access in the state will remain precarious until a final decision on the case is made next January, according to Baum. For now, however, abortion providers at both Planned Parenthood affiliates arereturning to more normal abortion services,though theycan only provide surgical abortions for the time being. The clinics will not be able to give patients abortion pills until the state approves a required plan for reporting complications from taking the drugs. A Planned Parenthood in Colombia, Mo., started to schedule and see patients for surgical abortions this week. 'As a physician, and just as a human in general, [I think] it is always better for people to get the care they need in the community they live in,' said Imam Alsaden, chief medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. 'Or at least as close to the community they live in as possible.'
