What’s really behind the drawn-out licensing saga for Reproductive Health Services (RHS) of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis?
Is it the zeal of a pro-life governor who wants the enviable distinction of having his state be the first to boast no abortion businesses?
Or is it just the nation’s largest abortion profiteer worried about its bottom line?
The pro-abortion media tends to portray the situation as a dire one for all the women of Missouri who won’t be able to access “abortion care” if Planned Parenthood has to stop killing the pre-born in its St. Louis center.
And in truth, the situation is dire for women in the state, but not for the reasons the abortion lobby says. If Planned Parenthood’s license is renewed, the very lives of many women will be in danger.
As is so often the case when investigative skills are needed to get to the bottom of a story, the best reporting on the issue is being done by my colleague in pro-life leadership, Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue. Working with pro-life activists in Missouri and filing Freedom of Information requests, Cheryl has been documenting every case of a woman being removed by ambulance from the St. Louis facility — some 74 women over 10 years.
She has also explained in full detail why the state is hesitant to renew the license of this particular abortion business. The truth may shock you.
On May 18, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued a 62-page report that included numerous instances of sub-standard care at RHS Planned Parenthood. The experiences of several patients are detailed in the report.
For example, one patient had a surgical abortion on May 26, 2018. She called Planned Parenthood three weeks later to say she thought she was still pregnant. She returned to the facility for what was by then a second-trimester abortion. The baby was then 15 weeks and two days. Two days later, the patient was hospitalized with sepsis, a serious and life-threatening infection that spreads through the bloodstream.
Here’s how St. Louis Public Radio reported on the botched abortions: “Officials said some abortions were not performed properly.”
And here’s the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The state investigation found four instances of incomplete surgical abortions, which may have been hindered by patients’ obesity or uterine malformations.”
In addition to the egregious mistakes made at the abortion center, many of the Planned Parenthood doctors refused to be interviewed by health officials. Among those remaining mute are the physician who performed the abortion on the patient that landed her in the hospital with sepsis, and others whose botched abortions are detailed in the report.
This Planned Parenthood clearly does not care about the women of Missouri. Whether or not its license is renewed is now up to the Administrative Hearing Commission, which deals with licensing disputes.
The judge who had been dealing with this case before handing it over to the Administrative Hearing Commission ordered the deficiency report sealed, and has allowed Planned Parenthood to continue performing abortions without a license. It’s probably a good thing that the ball is no longer in his court.
His attitude seems to be in line with the thinking throughout the pro-abortion movement, and that is that women’s health is much less important than access to abortion. We see this in state after state, where the abortion cartel fights every law aimed at protecting women from an unscrupulous, unregulated industry hell-bent on continuing to collect its blood money.
The next deadline in the Missouri saga comes at 5 p.m. Friday, when the hearing commission is supposed to render a verdict. Three of the four commissioners on the panel were appointed by former Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. The fourth, appointed by current Gov. Mike Parson, is ready to recuse himself if asked. So the deck seems to be stacked against the health and safety of the women and unborn children in Missouri.
Last week, Gov. Parson explained in plain language exactly what’s going on with his state’s last abortion facility:
“Planned Parenthood is losing its license because it failed to meet basic standards of care, placed multiple patients in life-threatening situations, performed multiple failed abortions where patients remained pregnant, and intentionally impeded the state’s health investigation by not allowing health inspectors to talk to the abortion doctors. If you don’t comply with the law, there will be consequences. If you don’t provide a standard of care that ensures the safety of women, you shouldn’t be allowed to operate. It’s that simple.”
Let’s see whether this simplicity is too complicated for the abortion industry and their political allies.
Fr. Frank Pavone is one of the most prominent pro-life leaders in the world. He became a Catholic priest in 1988 under Cardinal John O’Connor in New York. In 1993 he became National Director of Priests for Life. He is also the President of the National Pro-life Religious Council, and the National Pastoral Director of the Silent No More Campaign and of Rachel’s Vineyard, the world’s largest ministry of healing after abortion. He travels to about four states every week, preaching and teaching against abortion. He broadcasts regularly on television, radio, and internet. He was asked by Mother Teresa to speak in India on abortion, and was asked by then-candidate Donald Trump to serve on his Pro-life and Catholic advisory councils. He has served at the Vatican as an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family, which coordinates the pro-life activities of the Catholic Church. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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