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Judge stops Planned Parenthood clinic shutdown

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A federal judge Monday afternoon temporarily stopped Missouri’s Department of Health from revoking the license of Planned Parenthood’s Columbia Center.

Judge Nanette Laughery has scheduled another hearing on the issue for Wednesday afternoon.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM) said Monday it filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Health. According to the news release from PPKM, it filed the suit after the department’s acting director, Peter Lyskowski, announced he would revoke PPKM’s license to perform abortion services by close of business Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, if PPKM does not have a physician with privileges.

Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri claims the state is violating its due process by revoking the license.

Regulators say the facility must shut down because Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the lone doctor who performs abortions at the facility, is losing her hospital privileges at Missouri University Healthcare. State law requires doctors who perform abortions to have hospital privileges if something goes wrong.

However, according to the complaint, the facility claims the revocation of the doctor’s privileges is political.

Click here to view the full issued complaint from Planned Parenthood.

The complaint also states the health department hasn’t given the facility enough time to allow Dr. McNicholas to get privileges from a new hospital or for the facility to find a new doctor with privileges.

Health department officials note under state law, they “may,” at their discretion, revoke a clinic’s license when it’s not in compliance.

Planned Parenthood sued because it claims that that discretion is exercised without any rules or standards, permitting political considerations, and thus depriving it of due process.

The news release from PPKM states Planned Parenthood found itself in a similar gap in services when its physician resigned in 2012. DHSS maintained PPKM’s license for more than a year, allowing the health care provider time to search for a qualified doctor and submit the required privileging application, a process that took a total of three years, according to the news release.

Other options include making the license inactive, suspending it or doing nothing.

The center has performed medication abortions through the first 70 days of pregnancy.

It stopped the practice in mid-September even though the doctor’s hospital privileges don’t end until Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis center is the only one in the state currently performing abortions.

Facility operators in Columbia, Mo., argue if the state revokes its license, other women’s health services, including providing birth control and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, will be shut down.

Briefs are due at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The hearing by teleconference is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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