On day two of a weeklong hearing determined to shut down Missouri’s last abortion clinic, the state’s health director admitted he was using a spreadsheet to track the menstrual cycle of Planned Parenthood patients.
Dr. Randall Williams, who is anti-abortion and has never performed an abortion, sent the state investigator, William Koebel, who has no medical training and had never personally investigated a clinic, after Planned Parenthood failed to file a complication report after a failed abortion.
The state’s expert witness, Dr. Donna Harrison of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, pored over the records page by page to find out who had abortion complications. The result, a spreadsheet, was attached to an e-mail sent between health department employees with the title “Director’s Request.” The subject line of the email was “Duplicate ITOPs with last normal menses date.”
Koebel then used the period spreadsheet to find other women who had failed abortions. The total? Four—out of around 4,000.
Planned Parenthood blasted the invasion of medical privacy.
“As part of Gov. Parson’s effort to end abortion access in Missouri, Williams manufactured a solution in search of a problem,” Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood said in a statement. “Missouri politicians have gone too far. This is government overreach at its worst. It shadows the Trump administration’s history of tracking the periods of refugee girls under the government’s care. This is outrageous and disgusting. Planned Parenthood will always do what’s best for patients, and that will guide any decisions we make about how we continue fighting for abortion access.”
“This is the reality when people in power want to strip away our rights and freedoms,” Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said. “They force medically unnecessary pelvic exams, investigate menstrual cycles, and do whatever it takes to take control of our bodies, our lives, and our futures … Every person deserves access to safe, legal abortion without fearing their personal information will be used to wage political war.”
Koebel admitted on video that his investigation did not show a dangerous environment.
Planned Parenthood’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, said the investigation was retaliation against doctors who refused to be interviewed. Since they were at the clinic on a rotation basis, Planned Parenthood could not force them to comply.
The investigation resulted in the clinic’s license being pulled rather than the standard of working with the provider. Williams said the issues were “imminently fixable,” adding “Because we now talked to clinicians that took care of those patients, we are very, very far along on feeling (we can improve) that care with some new policies that we can collaborate with them to implement.”
Williams has denied any wrongdoing, but was forced to admit the alleged issues were minuscule, which Hatfield echoed.
“The investigators described the issues here as small issues,” Hatfield said. “The investigators described the issues here as easily resolved.”
Democrats have demanded an investigation into whether or not patient privacy laws were violated.
Missouri’s maternal mortality rate is roughly the same as Tajikistan’s, with 32.6 deaths out of 100,000 births. Women in Missouri are also more likely to be uninsured, smoke during pregnancy, and suffer from post-partum depression.
Sources: The Cut, Kansas City Star, KansasCity.com, CIA World Factbook