Missouri’s Republican attorney general is trying to obtain the medical records of Planned Parenthood patients who have had abortions, officials overseeing clinics in Kansas City and St. Louis said in court filings.
The dispute over the subpoenas is reflected in a lawsuit filed last year by Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the abortion provider’s affiliate for Kansas City, and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, its affiliate for St. Louis. Planned Parenthood officials argue that the state restrictions violate an amendment to the Missouri Constitution narrowly approved by voters in November to protect abortion rights.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office issued subpoenas beginning in slow August to two employees of Planned Parenthood’s Kansas City affiliate, a contracted physician and two former board members of Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis-area affiliate, according to Planned Parenthood court filings from last month. A motion to quash the subpoenas said the attorney general requested patient records, adverse event reports and patient care communications, as well as clinical protocols, equipment maintenance records, contract documents and records related to compliance with state requirements.
“Despite the Missouri Attorney General’s blatant attempts to overturn the will of the people, all patients expect and have the right to have their medical records remain confidential,” the two affiliates said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Politicians have no place in the examination room with patients and their doctors.”
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. But in a filing in June, the state questioned Planned Parenthood officials’ repeated statements that “abortion rarely causes medical complications” and that state mandates do not improve patients’ health.
“The purpose of litigation is to discover the truth,” the filing states.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade repealed and allowed states to enforce abortion bans, abortion policy at the national level is changing. Twelve states now ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with few exceptions, and women are now more likely to cross state lines to have an abortion or to have an abortion with pills sent by doctors prescribing elsewhere.
In a legal battle lasting several years, Missouri vacillated back and forth between banning and allowing most abortions. Before last year’s ballot question, there was a near-total ban in the state.
In July, Judge Jerri Zhang of Jackson City District Court in Kansas City blocked enforcement of many restrictions while the lawsuit was ongoing, including licensing requirements and a 72-hour waiting period for abortions.
Planned Parenthood clinics perform abortions in St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia, where the University of Missouri’s main campus is located. Planned Parenthood Great Plains also has two clinics that provide abortions on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Medication abortions remain on hold in Missouri as Planned Parenthood officials battle with the state over abortion regulations.
Last year’s measure amended the state constitution to guarantee a right to abortion until the fetus is viable, which is generally sometime after 21 weeks of pregnancy.
Republican-led lawmakers want to return to a ban, with exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. It approved a proposed constitutional amendment in May to accomplish that, but the declaration to voters that the Legislature wanted it on the ballot in 2026 was the subject of another lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court in the state capital of Jefferson City by a doctor who championed the ballot question last year.
Cole County Judge Daniel Green ruled last month that the original summary written by lawmakers was unfair and failed to tell voters they were repealing last year’s measure. He ordered the Missouri Secretary of State to rewrite it.
In the revision approved Tuesday, Green notes that the up-to-date measure would “repeal Article I, Section 36, which was approved in 2024,” but does not explain what that means.
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Associated Press journalist David A. Lieb also contributed from Jefferson City, Missouri.
