Missouri Health Director Tracked Periods of Planned Parenthood Patients

Missouri’s state health director admitted that he had a spreadsheet tracking the menstrual periods of women who visited Planned Parenthood, The Kansas City Star reports. At a Tuesday state hearing about Planned Parenthood’s license to perform abortions, Dr. Randall Williams said he asked the state’s main investigator to make the spreadsheet for the purpose of identifying women who had undergone failed abortions. According to Williams, an investigation into Planned Parenthood was launched after Missouri inspectors found evidence of a failed abortion that didn’t have a complication report filed with the state. The spreadsheet was based on medical records the investigator had access to, and featured identification numbers for each patient and the last date of their menstrual period. Eventually, the investigation found four patients who had to come back to Planned Parenthood more than once to have a successful abortion—prompting the state to withhold Planned Parenthood’s abortion license for its St. Louis clinic.