COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's administration has signaled it will use the inspections arm of the state health department in what abortion advocates are calling the latest effort to shutter Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion facility.
In emergency administrative rules the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) issued last week, the state said it will more closely inspect abortion facilities and share the results with the Department of Social Services (DSS). That agency could use the findings to block the organization from receiving funding through Medicaid.
The rules are set to go into effect Oct. 13.
Medicaid does not pay for abortions, except in cases where the mother's life is at risk. The objective of Republican lawmakers and the administration is to remove Planned Parenthood's 11 other clinics across the state — which do not provide abortions — from the Medicaid program.
The new rule comes two years after Parson's health department failed in an attempt to revoke the license of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic. It declined to renew the license after an inspection turned up complications in four surgical abortions, which the clinic said were "cherry-picked" out of more than 3,000 otherwise successful procedures.
An administrative law judge, Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi, ruled last year the denial was improper. Parson replaced him this year.
Joplin Republican Sen. Bill White who released a report last week endorsing the proposed rules, said sharing health department inspections with DSS would give the latter agency additional grounds to disqualify Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid-funded provider.
"We're asking them to be more vigilant and to review and intensify, if you will, what they're looking at," he said. "We're saying, we want you to have more criteria you're analyzing with ... We want it to be more diligent."
But Planned Parenthood said health inspection reports are already public and the impact of the rule is unclear.
The new rule adds to the inspection requirements for abortion facilities, such as ensuring there are annual fire drills and that surgical equipment is sterilized. Many of the requirements are already mandated by state law or existing regulations. They include a controversial pelvic exam to be administered within 72 hours of the procedure, maintenance of drug logs and physician counseling for patients on non-abortion options.
A DHSS spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the department already conducts inspections for all the provisions in the new rule.
Planned Parenthood said the rule targets a single provider in Medicaid, which the federal government has not allowed.
"This 'defund' attempt could also risk Missouri's entire Medicaid program," said M'Evie Mead, director of Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri.
