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In Hearing On Abortion Clinic, State Lawyers Claim Planned Parenthood Put Patients At Risk

Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer, left, and Planned Parenthood attorney Chuck Hatfield speak during a break on the first day of a hearing that could determine the fate of Missouri's sole abortion clinic.
Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer, left, and Planned Parenthood attorney Chuck Hatfield speak during a break on the first day of a hearing that could determine the fate of Missouri's sole abortion clinic.

On the first day of an administrative hearing that could determine the fate of Missouri’s sole abortion clinic, attorneys for the state questioned the safety of Planned Parenthood’s clinic and said state regulators acted with patients in mind when theydid not renew its license.

The lawyers spent hours attempting to prove through witness testimony the state’s Department of Health and Human Services acted legally when it did not issue a renewed license to Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis last June.

A member of the Administrative Hearing Commission, a nonpartisan state body that resolves regulatory disputes, will decide if the department acted properly.

Planned Parenthood contends the state was involved in an effort to bring down the clinic. But lawyers for the state say the department was protecting patient safety.

“Patient safety is the lodestar, the touchstone of the entire regulatory process,” Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer told Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi during his opening statement. “It’s not punitive; we don’t impose sanctions as a punishment.”

State health officials have said they couldn’t renew the license because they were worried about unsafe operations at the clinic. To bolster that argument, Sauer and other lawyers representing the state spent hours questioning two witnesses, including an abortion-rights opponent who is trained as an OB-GYN, about their opinions on four instances in which patients at the clinic suffered from complications after having abortions.

Supporters of Planned Parenthood listen to opening statements on the first day of the administrative hearing.
Credit Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Supporters of Planned Parenthood listen to opening statements on the first day of the administrative hearing.

The department is unfairly focusing on four rare cases out of thousands, said David Eisenberg, a physician at Planned Parenthood.Loading...

“They have twisted the process in a way that four patients might jeopardize the health of over one million women in the state of Missouri, because those four patients experienced a rare but known complication,” he said.

In May, Planned Parenthood lawyerssued the state in circuit courtover the license refusal. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer said he couldn’t hear the case until the commission made a decision.

In June, Dandamudi extended the clinic’s license, which has allowed it to stay open until he makes a decision on the case.

Sauer argued that a lack of oversight from attending physicians and reckless decisions put patients’ lives in jeopardy.

Sauer focused in particular on one patient who was admitted to a nearby hospital after undergoing an abortion at the clinic because of severe bleeding. He called as a witness Donna Harrison, an OB-GYN who said that could have been because clinicians did not take into account risks associated with an existing medical condition.

Donna Harrison, the state's first witness, answers questions. David Eisenberg, a physician at Planned Parenthood, slammed the choice of Harrison as a witness. Harrison is the executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Credit Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Donna Harrison, the state's first witness, answers questions. David Eisenberg, a physician at Planned Parenthood, slammed the choice of Harrison as a witness. Harrison is the executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Eisenberg slammed Sauer’s choice of witness during a break in the proceedings. Harrison is the executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

State attorneys also focused on three patients who received abortions but remained pregnant, including a case in which a physician appeared to have aborted one twin but not another.

The state’s attorneys also called William Koebel, a Department of Health and Senior Services administrator who is in charge of licensing abortion and ambulatory facilities throughout Missouri. Koebel noted various “deficiencies” found during inspections and investigations of the clinic, including incomplete record-keeping of complication reports.

Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi listens to opening remarks from Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer.
Credit Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi listens to opening remarks from Missouri Solicitor General John Sauer.

Planned Parenthood lawyer Chuck Hatfield told Dandamudi that problems alone do not merit revoking or not renewing a clinic’s license. The state didn’t pursue all options before attempting to close the clinic, he said.

Other state witnesses, including Randall Williams, director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, are scheduled to testify next. Later in the week, Planned Parenthood will call its own witnesses. 

A decision is not expected for months.

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Sarah Fentem reports on sickness and health as part of St. Louis Public Radio’s news team. She previously spent five years reporting for different NPR stations in Indiana, immersing herself deep, deep into an insurance policy beat from which she may never fully recover. A longitme NPR listener, she grew up hearing WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, which is now owned by STLPR. She lives in the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood, and in her spare time likes to watch old sitcoms, meticulously clean and organize her home and go on outdoor adventures with her fiancé Elliot. She has a cat, Lil Rock, and a dog, Ginger.