ST. LOUIS — Missouri’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Planned Parenthood of illegally taking minors into Kansas to obtain abortions without parental consent, basing the allegation on a video from a conservative group that has promoted false claims on other issues.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s lawsuit accuses Kansas City, Missouri-based Planned Parenthood Great Plains of violating Missouri law, which makes it illegal to “intentionally cause, aid, or assist a minor to obtain an abortion” without consent from a parent or guardian. The lawsuit filed in state district court in Columbia, Missouri, asks the court to stop Planned Parenthood from engaging in the conduct it alleges.
Bailey’s lawsuit provides no evidence of the actions alleged outside of a hidden camera video from a conservative group, Project Veritas. The video is of a conversation between Planned Parenthood employees and someone impersonating someone seeking an abortion for a fictitious 13-year-old.
Missouri is among several conservative-led states that adopted restrictive abortion laws in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing the nationwide right to abortion. State law prohibits almost all abortions, except in cases of “medical emergencies.”
GOP lawmakers and state officials have long been at odds with Planned Parenthood. The Republican-led Missouri House on Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that would bar Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood. Weeks earlier, the Missouri Supreme Court thwarted a previous attempt to end that funding.
Bailey said in a statement it is time to “eradicate Planned Parenthood once and for all.”
Bailey’s lawsuit, based on the Project Vertias video, alleges that Planned Parenthood employees said they could take the girl to a Kansas clinic without parental knowledge, using a doctor’s note written by someone at Planned Parenthood to get the girl out of school.
“This is the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood in the State of Missouri. What they conceal and conspire to do in the dark of night has now been uncovered,” Bailey said.
The lawsuit also asks the court to prohibit Planned Parenthood from referring minors for abortions, providing doctor’s notes for minors, paying for lodging for out-of-state abortions for minors, or coordinating with others for any of those activities.
Obey
Article URL : https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/missouri-suing-planned-parenthood-based-conservative-groups-sting-107699354