https://themilitant.com/2019/11/09/39774/
Fight continues to keep last abortion clinic in Missouri
??By Janet Post
Vol. 83/No. 42
November 18, 2019
Fight continues to keep last abortion clinic in Missouri
AP photo/Jeff Roberson
Supporters of women???s right to choose abortion protest in St. Louis in
May in defense of Planned Parenthood family planning clinic there
against government moves to close it down.
Planned Parenthood is continuing to fight against a concerted political
campaign by Missouri???s governor, the state???s director of health services
and anti-abortion forces to close the only clinic in the state that
provides abortion services. Protesters carrying a large banner saying
???Abortion is healthcare??? gathered across the street from an Oct. 28
meeting in St. Louis of the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission
on the state???s move to shut the clinic down.
Missouri is one of six states that have only one facility that offers
abortions, along with Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota
and West Virginia.
In March, the St. Louis clinic was ???investigated??? by the Missouri
Department of Health and Senior Services, which then charged the
facility with ???deficiencies.??? State officials also claimed some of the
Planned Parenthood doctors were unwilling to talk with investigators.
In June, the state moved to revoke the clinic???s license, but a federal
judge two months later ruled the facility could stay open until the
Administrative Hearing Commission took up the case. A ruling on the
clinic???s license is expected in February.
At the hearing Planned Parenthood learned to their surprise that the
director of the health department had ordered the compiling of detailed
information from patients??? medical records.
On Oct. 29 Yamelsie Rodriguez, president of Reproductive Health Services
of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis region, told the media,
???Missouri???s top health official, Randall Williams, scrutinized menstrual
cycles of women in this state in order to end abortion access.???
Elizabeth Nash, a representative of the Guttmacher Institute, a research
group that supports abortion rights, said they had never heard of any
other state governments tracking menstruation of clinic patients.
Missouri officials had earlier imposed a requirement that women at the
St. Louis clinic had to get not one, but two invasive pelvic exams prior
to being allowed to have an abortion. Under pressure, the state had to
back off in June.
New restrictions on right to choose
Missouri is one of several states that have recently passed new
restrictions on women???s right to have an abortion that challenge the
1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision making it legal. Gov. Mike Parson
signed a law banning abortions beyond eight weeks of pregnancy in May,
including in pregnancies from rape or incest.
If the clinic is ordered to stop performing abortions, it would make
Missouri the first state where the procedure is not available since
1974, the year after the Roe v. Wade decision decriminalized abortion.
Planned Parenthood opened a new clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois,
Oct. 30, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Asarco strike deserves support of all workers
???US-Chinese rulers??? rivalry grows despite new trade deal
??????Break from bosses 2-party system, build a labor party???
???New book ???The Turn to Industry??? boosts fall ???Militant,??? book drive
???Why working people shouldn???t join the liberals??? impeachment crusade
???California blackout, fire show need for workers control of power companies
Feature Articles ???Iraqi protests grow, demand halt to Tehran???s interference
???Socialist Workers Party 2020 campaign program
Also In This Issue ???As competition heats up, retail bosses tell workers,
???Speed up???
???DC meeting: ???US hands off Cuba and Venezuela???
???UK election: ???Workers need our own political party???
???Fight continues to keep last abortion clinic in Missouri
???Israel protest: ???Don???t deport Filipino classmates???
???Courts back two capitalist parties??? ballot monopoly
???After GM workers settle, workers at Ford debate, vote on new contract
???Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books (week 4)
???Socialist Workers Party Fund Drive (week 4)
Books of the Month ??????Communism is not a doctrine, but a movement???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Letters
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
Cookies
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more.
Okay, thank
--
---
David Hume
??? In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable
degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ???
??? David Hume,