Missouri backs off on rule requiring women get pelvic exam three days before abortion
ST. LOUIS -- The state health department will no longer require Missouri’s sole abortion provider to perform pelvic exams on patients at least three days prior to receiving an abortion, it announced Friday.
The practice has drawn major backlash nationally and been called “dehumanizing” by the clinic’s operator, Planned Parenthood clinic of St. Louis. The clinic has always performed a pelvic the same day a patient receives a surgical abortion, and the requirement means two invasive vaginal exams per patient days apart. The clinic told the state Tuesday it would not comply.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Director Dr. Randall Williams told reporters Friday that the agency would issue an emergency rule to relieve Planned Parenthood of the requirement.
“In looking at what they are doing and the fact that they think that causes a burden for patients to do (the pelvic exam) twice...as a clinician who practiced for 30 years, I’m sensitive to that,” Williams said.
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