Planned Parenthood has built a secret Illinois mega facility by using a shell company, the organization announced Wednesday.
The nation’s largest abortion provider reportedly worked in secret to create the 18,000-square-foot clinic, CBS News reports. Missouri’s last abortion clinic is 13 miles away from the new facility and may be shut down due to failure to comply with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ requirements.
“We were really intentional and thoughtful about making sure that we were able to complete this project as expeditiously as possible because we saw the writing on the wall — patients need better access, so we wanted to get it open as quickly as we could,” Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said during an interview with CBS News.
Planned Parenthood began building the “mega-clinic” in secrecy since August 2018 and hired a shell company to create the facility in order to avoid any delays or protests. The chief medical officer added that other Planned Parenthood projects have faced disruptions — such as a cabinet maker not delivering an order or a communications line refusing to install telephone and data lines.
McNicholas also mentioned that when Planned Parenthood tried to build an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, protesters wrote negative reviews for the clinic’s suppliers. (RELATED: Last Missouri Planned Parenthood Suing To Avoid Closure, Repeatedly Defied State Heath Standards)
The Missouri Department of Health and Health and Senior Services previously told the last remaining abortion clinic in Missouri that the clinic’s license could not be renewed until it met the health requirements in April. The clinic refused to do so. Following a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood, a judge ruled to keep the clinic temporarily open in June.
BREAKING: Today, Missouri’s health department weaponized a regulatory process to deny an abortion license to the last remaining health center in Missouri that provides abortion. The fate of abortion access now rests in a court’s hands. #BansOffMyBody #StoptheBans
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) June 21, 2019
DHSS said at the time that St. Louis abortion clinic doctors refused to cooperate in interviews, preventing DHSS from being able to verify that the clinic was in compliance with “all the requirements of applicable statutes and regulations” and thus preventing DHSS from renewing their license.
DHSS listed concerns about the clinic including Missouri law and regulations violations, incidents involving failure to provide standard patient care, unsuccessful abortion procedures, questionable quality control, communication with a contracted pathology lab and failure to obtain informed consent from patients.
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