Missouri health department tracked periods at Planned Parenthood clinic

(AP) Missouri’s health department director says the agency tracked menstrual periods of Planned Parenthood patients as part of an effort to identify what it says were “failed abortions” at a St. Louis clinic.

The Kansas City Star reports Director Randall Williams testified Tuesday that he requested a spreadsheet that included the dates of patients’ last periods.

Williams says the goal was to identify women who needed multiple procedures to complete an abortion. He says a state investigator had access to the information from medical records.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement calling the revelation “deeply disturbing.”

Williams testified as part of a weeklong hearing over whether the state can revoke Planned Parenthood’s abortion license for its St. Louis clinic.

The earliest that the Administrative Hearing Commission can rule is February.

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Missouri’s health department director says he believes an agreement can be reached with Planned Parenthood that would keep open Missouri’s only abortion clinic.

Director Randall Williams testified Tuesday during the second day of a state administrative hearing that will decide if the state can revoke Planned Parenthood’s abortion license for its St. Louis clinic.

The state moved to revoke the license in June, citing concerns about “failed abortions.”

Williams testified that two of the doctors have now been deposed, and the information they provided was helpful in learning what happened with four instances where abortions went wrong. He believes there are solutions that both the state and Planned Parenthood could accept.

The clinic remains open until the Administrative Hearing Commission ruling, which will come no sooner than February.