Missouri has denied a license that would allow a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis to perform abortions, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced Friday. The St. Louis clinic is the state’s only abortion provider, making Missouri one of six states that have a single abortion clinic.
For now, the Planned Parenthood facility can keep providing abortions due to a previously implemented injunction that will continue to remain in place. Planned Parenthood said it will continue to provide abortions for as long as it’s able to do so. “While Gov. [Mike] Parson and his political cronies are on the wrong side of history, nothing changes right now for patients who need access to abortion at Planned Parenthood,” said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, a physician at the clinic, in a statement.
In declining to renew the license, health officials cited concerns about patient safety. DHSS Director Randall Williams told reporters Friday that Planned Parenthood only corrected four of 30 “deficient” practices filed in a report in court, some of which included abortions that failed after they were improperly performed. Williams said the license renewal was denied because Planned Parenthood left the remaining deficiencies uncorrected.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement that Williams and Gov. Parson “weaponized a regulatory process” to ban abortion access in Missouri.
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“Parson and his DHSS Director Randall Williams spent weeks changing goalposts, piling on nonsensical excuses, and parading around medically inaccurate reports,” Planned Parenthood wrote. It did not respond specifically to TIME’s request for comment on patient safety matters.
Planned Parenthood said earlier this week that it would refuse to comply with state regulations requiring pelvic exams during initial consultation appointments, which take place 72 hours before an abortion procedure. Doctors said they would only perform pelvic exams on the day a patient is set to undergo an abortion.
Williams on Friday issued an emergency rule regarding pelvic exams, changing regulations that required Planned Parenthood to perform them before a surgical abortion by leaving their timing to doctors’ discretion.
Missouri’s decision continues a dispute that began last month, when Planned Parenthood officials said the state’s health department was not expected to renew its license required to provide abortion services ahead of the May 31 expiration date. Following a preemptive lawsuit by Planned Parenthood before the license expired, court orders allowed the clinic to continue providing abortions. The St. Louis clinic’s closure would have left Missouri without any legal abortion providers.
The future of the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis will now be decided in court, according to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson.
Write to Mahita Gajanan at [email protected].