Planned Parenthood Affiliate Files For Federal Injunction Against Missouri Law Designating Some Clinics As Ambulatory Care Centers

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri on Monday filed a lawsuit that asks a federal court to block enforcement of a new Missouri law (SB 370) that will designate facilities performing second- or third-trimester abortions or more than five first-trimester abortions each month as "ambulatory surgical centers," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (Franck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21).

Clinics designated as ambulatory surgical centers are subject to increased regulation from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The health department said the law requires that three clinics in the state be licensed (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/11). According to the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, the law, which is scheduled to take effect Aug. 28, will require that hallways be at least six feet wide and doors at least 44 inches wide. The clinics must also have separate male and female changing rooms for staff and a recovery room with space for a minimum of four beds with three feet of clearance around each bed (Lieb, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/20).

The suit alleges that the new regulations are unnecessary and are not meant to improve safety but to interfere with a woman's constitutional right to abortion. PPKM in the suit also is asking that its Columbia and Kansas City clinics be exempt from the law because they were open before the law was passed, the Post-Dispatch reports (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21). The organization has said the law could force the group to spend up to $2 million to remodel its clinic in Columbia or be forced to stop providing abortions (AP/Columbia Tribune, 8/18).

The law also will give public school districts the option of teaching an abstinence-only sex education course. School districts previously were required to include information about contraception in sex education classes. In addition, the law prohibits people affiliated with abortion providers from teaching or supplying sex education materials to public schools (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/11).

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PPKM CEO Peter Brownlie said the law is a "blatant attempt to close down clinics and deny women their right to health care." He added that the regulations "would have no impact on family planning services or the quality of care that patients receive." Nanci Gonder, a spokesperson for the health department, said she cannot comment until the agency reviewed the lawsuit (Bauer, Kansas City Star, 8/20). A spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon (R) said the attorney general's office "will continue our constitutional duties" by defending the law in court.

State Sen. Delbert Scott (R), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said that while he hopes the law decreases abortions, the purpose is to ensure that abortion clinics meet the same safety standards as other outpatient clinics. Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, said the group is deciding whether to challenge the section of the law prohibiting abortion providers from providing sex education, the Post-Dispatch reports (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21).

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