ST. LOUIS – Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Friday against Attorney General Andrew Bailey over a civil investigative demand to its St. Louis & Southwest Missouri division.
Planned Parenthood says that Bailey sent a Civil Investigative Demand to its St. Louis & Southwest Missouri division that contained over 50 separate requests. Planned Parenthood adds that he pursued HIPAA-protected patient health information and every document that references “social media” or “Tik Tok.”
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, in a news release, argues that the demands are outside the scope of the attorney general’s power and politically motivated.
Yamelsie Rordirguez, president and CEO for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, sent the following statement on the lawsuit:
“Planned Parenthood knows this playbook well, and we’ll move forward just like we have in every other sham investigation — we’ll continue providing expert and evidence-based health care while we fight in court. This investigation is what ignorance and transphobia look like, and they have no place in our exam rooms. “To our trans and non-binary patients: our doors remain open to you. We are not backing down.”
The Missouri Attorney General responded with the following statement, in part:
“Following discovery that Planned Parenthood provides life-altering gender transition drugs to children without any therapy assessment, Attorney General Bailey asked Planned Parenthood to provide basic documents to explain several things, including why its procedures depart so far from any recognized standard of care. Planned Parenthood is a member of the activist organization WPATH, which has long called for ‘extensive exploration of psychological issues’ ‘before any physical interventions are considered.’ But rather than provide a single document to explain why it is departing so far from WPATH’s standard, Planned Parenthood is running to court to try to hide everything. Missourians should be very concerned.
We look forward to prevailing in this request for information and learning what is truly going on with Planned Parenthood in connection with gender transition issues.”
Unrelated to Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit, Bailey’s office recently launched an investigation into the St. Louis pediatric transgender center.
Amid the investigation, Bailey contends that a whistleblower has accused the St. Louis Pediatric Transgender Center at Children’s Hospital of using experimental drugs on children, distributing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and giving children life-altering drugs without parental consent.
Last week, Bailey’s office proceeded with the investigation by launching an online form seeking information on what his office describe as “reports of questionable gender transition interventions.”
CORRECTION: The story has been updated to specify the lawsuit is not part of the investigation into the pediatric center in St. Louis.
