Hearing begins on fate of Missouri’s lone abortion clinic

Patient safety at Missouri’s only abortion clinic is the point of contention at a state administrative hearing that will decide if the clinic can remain open.

Opening statements and testimony began last week before a commissioner with the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission. At issue is the state health department’s effort to revoke the license for Planned Parenthood’s clinic in St. Louis.

The state has said that part of the reason it’s seeking to remove the license is a series of “failed abortions.” Assistant Attorney General John Sauer outlined details of those cases. In one, he said, a woman had to undergo up to five procedures over four days to complete the abortion. In another, a woman bled heavily after doctors failed to recognize a condition that put her at higher than normal risk.

Sauer cited a third incident in which a woman had an abortion but later had to return for a second one because the doctor missed that she was pregnant with twins. Dr. Donna Harrison, an OBGYN called as an expert witness by the state who reviewed the records, said there was no indication that adequate follow-up exams were performed.

“There is a much higher risk of infection” if fetal parts remain in a woman’s uterus after an abortion, said Harrison, who is executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

But Planned Parenthood’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, played a video deposition of William Koebel, director of the section of the health department responsible for abortion clinic licensing, who was asked if the facility was deemed unsafe. “Not that I recall,” Koebel said.

Hatfield said that after a March inspection, the health department “moved the goal line” in an effort to take away the clinic’s license.