By Cheryl Sullenger
Springfield, MO – The Planned Parenthood office in Springfield, Missouri, will not be doing abortions anytime soon. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has denied its application for an abortion facility license because the office cannot meet licensing requirements.
“This is great news that will save lives. When women do not have an abortion facility aggressively marketing abortions to them in their communities, they are less likely to have an abortion,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “We are very grateful to the Missouri pro-life activists we have had the privilege to work with, in addition to state legislature, Attorney General’s Office, and the Department of Health and Human Services that have worked together so efficiently under the current administration to protect women and babies from exploitation and harm from abortion.”
Offering abortion drugs in Springfield was part of a long-announced plan by Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri to expand abortions into their offices in Springfield and Joplin.
So far, their plan is failing. In addition to the denial of license to the Springfield Planned Parenthood, the Joplin center’s application is still pending and is now in doubt for approval.
The Springfield license was denied because it could not get two ObGyns to agree to be on call 24 hours per day in the event of abortion complications. While Planned Parenthood downplays these complications, the abortion drugs can result in incomplete abortions that require surgical intervention. The Springfield center is not equipped to conduct surgical abortions, leaving women to seek emergency care for their abortion complications elsewhere.
The abortion drug cocktail has a rate of incomplete abortion requiring surgery of up to eight percent. Other complications include hemorrhage, infection, severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The risks increase the later the gestation of the pre-born baby. Abortion pills are not advised after nine weeks of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood has tried to obtain an abortion facility license for their Springfield center since a Missouri Federal Court decision struck down the long-standing safety law last year that required abortion providers to maintain local hospital privileges. However, the Department of Health and Human Services instituted new regulations last fall to protect the safety of women left vulnerable by the Court’s decision. Planned Parenthood had so far been unable to comply with even the relaxed safety requirements.
There was good reason for these new regulations.
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri also operates a high-volume abortion facility in St. Louis that is known as the most dangerous abortion facility in the country. It has an abysmal safety record and has been cited for multiple health code violations over the years for serious issues including failures in sanitation and infection control protocols.
With the help of local pro-life activists, Operation Rescue has documented 69 medical emergencies requiring emergency transport to hospitals at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood facility. Complications have included perforated uteri, hemorrhaging, abdominal pain, seizures, stroke, allergic reactions, and more.
This has raised concerns that any new facility operated by the St. Louis Planned Parenthood organization will be run in a similarly dangerous fashion.
Planned Parenthood is due in Federal Court in Kansas City on Friday for a hearing in opposition to the regulations on abortion drugs, according to a local news report.
“For Planned Parenthood, abortion profits come before the lives and health of their patients,” said Newman. “They are willing to fight in court for the right to endanger women without consequence to their abortion business. That speaks volumes about Planned Parenthood’s predatory view toward women and their babies.”

Related: Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Expansion Plans May Be Fleeting