Missouri Attorney General Bailey sues Planned Parenthood, citing Project Veritas video

Jonathan Shorman
·3 min read
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey gives his first remarks after being sworn into office in January at the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey alleged in a lawsuit on Thursday that Planned Parenthood Great Plains had helped organize abortions for minors out of state without parental consent, citing a video posted by the conservative group Project Veritas.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains in response called Bailey’s actions “a press release dressed up as legal action from an unelected attorney general.”

Bailey, a Republican appointed to office last year now facing a competitive primary contest, accused Planned Parenthood Great Plains, or PPGP, of working to pay for abortions for minors, as well as providing transportation and lodging. The lawsuit asserts that the organization represented to schools that minors should be excused for medical reasons without disclosing it was for an abortion.

Except for medical emergencies, abortion has been banned in Missouri since June 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. At the time, Planned Parenthood operated the only abortion clinic in the state, in St. Louis.

Bailey’s lawsuit, filed in Boone County Circuit Court according to copies of court documents released by his office, marks a new front in a long battle by Missouri Republicans to drive Planned Parenthood from the state, even though the organization no longer performs abortions in Missouri. The Missouri House on Wednesday advanced a bill to block state Medicaid dollars from going to Planned Parenthood.

Bailey cast the legal challenge as part of an effort to “eradicate” Planned Parenthood.

“This is the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood in the State of Missouri. What they conceal and conspire to do in the dark of night has now been uncovered. I am filing suit to ensure it never happens again,” Bailey said in a written statement.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction ordering Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, from helping minors obtain abortions.

Much of Bailey’s petition consists of a recitation of years-old health and safety violations at a PPGP clinic in Columbia. The allegations related to helping minors obtain abortions are rooted in an undercover video posted last year by Project Veritas, a right-wing group with a history of using hidden cameras to embarrass its targets.

The video purports to show conversations with Planned Parenthood employees, filmed surreptitiously, in which they describe how a 13-year-old girl can obtain an abortion in Kansas without her parent’s knowing.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains said the Project Veritas video was filmed without the staff’s knowledge or consent and had been heavily doctored and edited. The organization also doesn’t provide any transportation directly to patients, regardless of age or location.

“It is based on ‘evidence’ from fraudulent, extreme anti-abortion actors, who claim to be ‘journalists.’ At this point, we’re relying on the attorney general’s social media posts to review any purported lawsuit, as we have not yet been served and the document does not yet appear to have been filed,” PPGP president and CEO Emily Wales said in a written statement on Thursday morning.

“We will continue following state and federal laws and proudly providing Missourians with the compassionate sexual and reproductive care that remains available to them in a state with a total abortion ban.”

Abortion remains legal in Kansas and Illinois, and many Missouri residents have traveled across state lines for the procedure. In 2022, 50 Missouri residents under 18 received abortions in Kansas, according to official Kansas statistics.

Missouri law contains a provision that allows a court to authorize a minor to obtain an abortion without parental consent. Bailey alleged that because Missouri does not allow elective abortions, there is no ability to obtain judicial permission for an out of state abortion.

But Kansas law also requires minors to obtain parental permission for an abortion or go through a judicial bypass process – meaning that every Missouri minor who has an abortion in Kansas must either have a parent or a Kansas judge’s permission.

Bailey’s petition says Missouri law forbids anyone from helping a minor get an abortion without parental consent, “even if the abortion occurs across state lines and is legal in that other State.”