Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has announced he will sign legislation limiting Planned Parenthood鈥檚 ability to serve low-income patients at a ceremony in his Capitol office Thursday.
The new law, which will go into effect Aug. 28, In Missouri, the law would apply to Planned Parenthood.
鈥淭his is something Republicans have been working for years, since we captured the majority,鈥� said state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican who sponsored a version of the legislation. She added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge victory. Missouri has a long history of being a pro-life state.鈥�
Nearly every abortion, with exceptions for medical emergencies, has been illegal in Missouri since 2022. However, the state鈥檚 Planned Parenthood clinics have continued to operate, providing services such as contraceptive care, STI testing, cancer screenings and wellness checks.
Missouri Republicans have argued that no additional money should be going to Planned Parenthood, since Missouri鈥檚 locations are affiliated with clinics in Kansas and Illinois, where abortion is legal and where many Missourians travel for the procedure.
Democrats, Planned Parenthood and other health institutes have argued that the bill would cause the most harm to Missouri鈥檚 most vulnerable population, who may be forced to find a new provider. But the state鈥檚 public health safety net is already strained and will have a difficult time absorbing the thousands of displaced patients.
Two weeks ago, the Missouri House approved of Carthage, though it did so without approving an emergency clause which would have put the bill into effect immediately upon the governor鈥檚 signing.
Coleman鈥檚 version of the bill . A second filibuster by Senate Democrats in April was abandoned after 11 hours when Republicans agreed to remove a provision that would have ended contracts with organizations founded by eugenicists.
Missouri Republicans have twice before tried to pass a similar restriction through the state budget, attempts that were
A similar restriction went into effect in Arkansas several years ago when the law was upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. At that time, Planned Parenthood clinics in Arkansas immediately stopped seeing Medicaid patients.
After the bill cleared the legislature, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, which have clinics in Missouri, said in a statement that they will continue trying to serve all patients, 鈥渘o matter what.鈥�
As of March, Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri had been without Medicaid reimbursements for two years. At the time, Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said her organization offset the cost of care for Missouri Medicaid patients through private fundraising.
MO HealthNet, the state鈥檚 Medicaid program, serves low-income and disabled citizens and has long banned funding for abortion, with limited exceptions.
Planned Parenthood has said nearly one in five of their Missouri patients are on Medicaid.
The Missouri Family Health Council Inc. has been particularly vocal against the bill, saying it could harm thousands of patients.
The health care nonprofit found through informal surveying that across Missouri鈥檚 safety net clinics, wait times over the past two years averaged between five and seven weeks, with some clinics as few as two weeks and some pausing new patients completely. Meanwhile, wait times at the state鈥檚 Planned Parenthood clinics averaged between the same day and three days to get an appointment.
In 2022, across all 68 safety net clinics in the state that take Title X funding, around 24% of the clients were on Medicaid, said Michelle Trupiano, the council鈥檚 executive director.
This story was originally published by the , part of the States Newsroom.
