Abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood has appealed a judge’s ruling that requires the organization to hand over files detailing whether so-called “gender-affirming” care was performed on children.
The Planned Parenthood branch in St. Louis, Missouri filed a lawsuit against state Attorney General Andrew Bailey to end an investigation into the clinic’s transgender care program, according to Fox 2 Now. This month, a St. Louis Circuit Court judge ruled that the branch would need to turn over documents on this kind of controversial care to Bailey.
“Andrew Bailey has weaponized the Attorney General’s office to carry out a political campaign targeting some of Missouri’s most vulnerable — rather than work to promote the health and rights of transgender and gender-expansive Missourians,” Richard Muniz, interim president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told the outlet.
“We’re asking the court of appeals to put a halt to Bailey’s pretextual and lawless investigation, because Missourians should not have to live in fear of having their essential and lifesaving care dismantled — or their private health information scrutinized by politicians. Planned Parenthood remains committed to ensuring the rights to privacy and health care are protected. When we said we won’t back down from this sham investigation, we meant it,” Muniz added.
The attorney general offered a response.
“It’s baffling that Planned Parenthood doesn’t want to comply with our investigation that merely seeks to ensure children weren’t experimented on without parental consent. As a father of four, this fight to protect children is personal for me. We will not let up. I look forward to prevailing in court on this matter once again,” Bailey said.
According to multiple reports, Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act allows Bailey to obtain patient documents because they do not fall under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protections.
Fox News noted that Bailey has won against three clinics, but only one, Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, has handed over documents (via Fox):
A Planned Parenthood clinic in Great Plains has filed an appeal to keep their documents private while a St. Louis-based Planned Parenthood in St. Louis has yet to send Bailey's office any of its patient documents.
According to the court opinion, Planned Parenthood attempted to block Bailey's inquiry and argued that Bailey's office "failed to show" how they were "directly involved in his investigation" of transgender clinics.
The investigations were initiated when Jamie Reed, a former healthcare worker at a transgender clinic in Missouri, spoke out in a bombshell report in The Free Press about how “morally and medically appalling” “gender-affirming” health care is on young people, which Townhall covered.
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