New law puts more restrictions on state's abortion providers

~ More clinics will be placed under government oversight by reclassifying them.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri abortion providers will face new regulations for their clinics and new restrictions on teaching sex education classes.

Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation Friday placing more abortion clinics under government oversight by classifying them as ambulatory surgical centers. Planned Parenthood claimed the law could force it to spend up to $2 million to remodel one of its clinics and halt medical abortions at another site.

The new law, which will take effect Aug. 28, also bars people affiliated with abortion providers from teaching or supplying materials for sex education courses in public schools, and it allows schools to offer abstinence-only programs.

It cements into state statute an existing grant program for centers that encourage women to deliver babies instead of having abortions.

Blunt proclaimed the law "one of the strongest pieces of pro-life legislation in Missouri history" as he spoke from a cross-shaped lectern during a signing ceremony in the sanctuary of Concord Baptist Church. The governor also was scheduled to promote the legislation in Joplin, Hannibal and suburban St. Louis.

The Republican governor said he has no qualms if the stricter state oversight causes hardships for abortion clinics.

"I say if they can't meet the same basic requirements that other [medical] providers do, then they should shut down," Blunt said.

Missouri Right to Life, which backed the measure, claims groups such as Planned Parenthood have a conflict of interest in supplying materials for sex education courses, because they could potentially make money off female students who later visit their clinics.

Blunt alleged abortion providers were deriving a "significant source of revenue" by selling sex education materials to taxpayer-financed school districts.

Planned Parenthood said it provides sex education materials to schools for free and its staff members who teach sexual health and education lessons in 41 Missouri schools are trained not to discuss abortions. A top official at the organization denied any conflict and called that assertion "political propaganda."

"Essentially, what Gov. Blunt and the legislature is doing is saying that teens need to be protected from information, not from sexually transmitted infections or unintended pregnancies," said Peter Brownlie, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

The state already requires abortion facilities to be licensed, setting forth specific standards for their staff, operations and buildings. But because of the definition of an abortion facility -- requiring abortions to generate half its revenues or patients -- a St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic is the only facility in Missouri actually regulated as an abortion clinic.

The Department of Health and Senior Services said the new language about ambulatory surgical centers would cause three additional abortion facilities to fall under its licensure, but it declined to identify them.

Planned Parenthood lobbyist Michelle Trupiano said the law could prompt renovations costing as much as $2 million at its Columbia clinic, which performs 600 to 700 abortions a year.

She said a Kansas City office, which offers only abortions induced by medication, likely would quit doing so to avoid renovation costs. Patients instead would have to travel a few miles west to a Planned Parenthood facility in Overland Park, Kan.

State regulations for ambulatory surgical centers, for example, require halls to be at least 8 feet wide leading to operating and recovery rooms and at least 5 feet wide elsewhere. Ambulatory surgical centers also must meet requirements for emergency equipment, infection control, medical staffing and numerous other things.

Trupiano said Planned Parenthood was weighing whether to file a court challenge against both the clinic regulations and the sex education restrictions. Even if clinic renovations began now, they likely could not be done in time for the law's effective date, she said.

The legislation also puts into law the Missouri Alternatives to Abortion Services Program, which lawmakers have funded through the budget for several years. It provides grants for pregnancy centers that supply financial aid and parenting instruction to encourage women to give birth instead of have abortions. The law authorizes a public awareness campaign to promote the centers.

The abortion bill is HB1055.