JEFFERSON CITY — A failed bid by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to shut down Missouri’s lone abortion provider will cost taxpayers $140,000.
A banner hangs on the side of the Planned Parenthood of St. Louis building after a state judge ruled against an attempt by the Gov. Mike Parson administration to shut down the lone abortion clinic in Missouri. The banner has been in place since an October trial where the Missouri Department of Public Health attempted to close it by denying a license to operate.
Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, answers questions from Assistant Attorney General John Sauer on the second day of hearings between Planned Parenthood and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on whether Planned Parenthood can keep its abortion license on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, at the Wainwright State Office Building in St. Louis. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]
In a decision issued Friday, Administration Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi granted Planned Parenthood’s request to pay legal fees connected to the case, as well as another $6,600 that was spent on an expert witness.
Charles Hatfield, once a top aide to former Gov. Jay Nixon, was the lead attorney in the case.
The decision marks the latest fallout from the Republican administration’s high-profile loss in an effort that began after Parson took office in 2018.
A four-day trial in October 2019 highlighted the administration’s efforts to close the facility by denying it a license to operate based on allegations that Planned Parenthood had botched abortions.
A March 2019 inspection, for example, found that a woman had undergone an abortion that took five attempts to complete. The health department investigated other instances when women underwent multiple procedures to complete an abortion and found four.