Missouri’s Republican attorney general sued a Planned Parenthood affiliate, accusing it of helping minors travel to Kansas to get abortions without notifying their parents of the violation of state law.
The lawsuit by Attorney General Andrew Bailey cites undercover footage released by the conservative Project Veritas that shows a Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) employee offering to arrange an abortion for a 13-year-old in Kansas.
Missouri law bans nearly all abortions, as well as helping a minor get an abortion out of state without parental consent. (Related: Abortions in Illinois surge 54% as neighboring states enact pro-life legislation.)
Bailey accused Planned Parenthood Great Plains of working to pay for minors’ abortions, as well as providing lodgings and transport.
“This lawsuit is the culmination of a multi-year campaign to drive Planned Parenthood from the State of Missouri because of its flagrant and intentional refusal to comply with state law,” Bailey said. “It is time to eradicate Planned Parenthood once and for all to end this pattern of abhorrent, unethical and illegal behavior.”
Abortions banned in Missouri except for medical emergencies
Abortion has been banned in Missouri except for medical emergencies since June 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Bailey’s lawsuit rehashes several historic health and safety violations at a PPGP clinic in Columbia in 2018, including staff admitting to “using moldy abortion equipment on women for months.”
It also references the undercover video as evidence that the organization has been “trafficking” minors for abortions.
“Violating the ‘deeply rooted’ right of parents and the laws of Missouri, Planned Parenthood is inducing minors into making life-changing – and life-ending – decisions without parental consent,” the lawsuit states.
The video allegedly shows staff at a Planned Parenthood facility telling an undercover journalist how to obtain an abortion for a teen girl in neighboring Kansas.
“The investigation revealed that Planned Parenthood removes minors from school using altered doctors’ notes, transports them into Kansas for abortions, and then quickly returns them – all to avoid the legal requirement to obtain parental consent,” Bailey said.
The filings claim PPGP represented to schools that minors should be excused without disclosing it was for an abortion.
Bailey is seeking an injunction ordering PPGP to stop aiding minors obtain abortions.
PPGP called the attorney general’s actions “a press release dressed up as legal action from an unelected attorney general” in a statement.
Planned Parenthood president, Emily Wales, said in a statement that the lawsuit was “based on ‘evidence’ from fraudulent, extreme anti-abortion actors’ and that the organization would ‘continue following state and federal laws.'”
“Planned Parenthood can try to turn the spotlight back on us, but they’ve been caught breaking the law,” a Project Veritas spokesperson said in an email.
The Missouri state House gave initial approval to a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood. The measure would prevent Medicaid funding from going to the reproductive health organization.
The lawsuit also asks the court to prohibit Planned Parenthood from referring minors for abortions, providing doctor’s notes for minors, paying for lodging for out-of-state abortions for minors, or coordinating with others for any of those activities, absnews.com reported.
Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade told reporters that she believes that Bailey’s action “falls in the bucket again of another lawsuit just to try to get some headlines in an election year.”
Bailey was appointed attorney general by Republican Gov. Mike Parson after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2022. Bailey is running for election to the post this year.
Missouri is one of about 20 Republican-led states that have banned or restricted abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide.
Abortion remains legal until about 22 weeks in Kansas after voters in August 2022 rejected an effort to remove protections for it from the state’s constitution.
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