A family planning organization in St. Louis, Missouri, is appealing a judge’s ruling that required clinics to turn over patient files revealing whether puberty-blocking drugs or transgender procedures were performed on children.
The clinic filed an appeal Friday to the 22nd Judicial District Court in St. Louis, arguing that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s civil review request was “improperly issued” because it did not mention the Planned Parenthood Act among 54 claims. ‘ he claimed.
Missouri’s Commodity Exchange Act allows Mr. Bailey to obtain patient documents because they do not fall under the protections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael St. Louis said. Judge Stelzer issued his ruling earlier this month. But Planned Parenthood claims the civil investigation request was made in “undue reliance” on the Commodity Exchange Act.
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(Missouri Attorney General’s Office | Photo credit SAUL LOEB/AFP, see Getty Images)
“The affidavit addressed to the complaint about the University of Washington’s practices, which is being investigated by the Missouri AG, makes no mention, either explicitly or implicitly. [Planned Parenthood] in any form,” the appeal said.
Richard Muniz, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, told Fox News Digital that Bailey “weaponized” the attorney general’s office to “conduct a political campaign.” he said.
“We are asking the Court of Appeals to end this pretentious and lawless investigation into Bailey, because Missourians are at risk of having essential life-saving medical care cut off and their personal health information being stolen by politicians. Because you don’t have to live in fear of scrutiny,” Muniz said. .
The CEO of the Family Planning Association added that the clinic has no intention of backing away from “this bogus investigation.”
The appeal comes as Bailey releases a series of investigations into how transgender clinics have served children. Mr Bailey named Planned Parenthood for its role in prolonging the investigation.
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Planned Parenthood has filed an appeal to block Andrew Bailey of Missouri from obtaining patient files that could reveal transgender procedures on children. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“It is unfortunate that Planned Parenthood is unwilling to respond to our investigation, simply to ensure that children are not being experimented on without their parents’ consent,” Bailey told Fox News Digital in a statement Friday. ” he said. “As a father of four children, this fight to protect my children is personal to me. We will never give up, and we look forward to winning this case in court once again.”
Of the three clinics that Bailey won in court, only Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City submitted paperwork.
a planned parenting The St. Louis-based family planning system has not yet sent patient documents to Mr. Bailey’s office, although the Great Plains clinic has filed a motion to keep the documents private.
According to the court’s brief, Planned Parenthood tried to block Bailey’s investigation, claiming it “failed to show” how his office was “directly involved in the investigation” of the transgender clinic. did.
Bailey launched a multi-agency investigation last year after a whistleblower publicly accused St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Washington University Transgender Center (TGC) of lying to patients’ parents. .
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The AG’s investigation into TGC “seeks all records of all patients treated at TGC, including requests for private and protected health information. The records include more than 1,000 patients.
In an affidavit filed with the Attorney General’s Office in early 2023, Jamie Reed said she was employed as a case manager at a children’s hospital from 2018 to November 2022. She accused hospital staff at the transgender center of lying to patients’ parents. There are many other issues as well.
Just a few months later, Missouri passed the law. Outlaw puberty blockershormones and sex reassignment surgery for minors.
