Amidst the passage of laws and handing down of court decisions regulating and restricting abortion in Missouri, Planned Parenthood in Kansas City, Missouri, recently began providing medication abortion to women in the state. While this may be considered a setback to pro-lifers, Operation Rescue had good news to report on September 25 about the women who turned to this early abortion method, specifically the lack thereof of these women.
On the Monday prior, Christians from Missouri and Kansas who were there to counsel abortion-minded women noted that 11 women came to the facility. Missouri state law requires informed consent and a 72-hour waiting period.
Planned Parenthood opposes virtually all abortion regulations and restrictions, including the above requirements of informed consent and waiting periods. At least for the women above, however, these laws may have just saved lives.
Other pro-life policies in the Missouri law recently signed by Governor Eric Greitens include giving the attorney general jurisdiction to prosecute abortion facilities and for annual inspections, which were in reaction to a report highlighting numerous health and safety violations at the Planned Parenthood St. Louis facility.
Informed consent about the medication abortion process is also important, as women, including those who are pro-choice, have detailed their unpleasant experiences with the process. Abortion advocates describe medication abortion as being like a “heavy period,” but side effects can be far more numerous, including abdominal pain; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; headache; and heavy bleeding. Severe cases can even lead to maternal death.
Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist, explains more about the process as part of Live Action’s Abortion Procedure series.
If the women were so sure of their decision, they would come back on Thursday to begin the abortion procedure. Only four came back, however, as noted by pro-life activists Kathy Forck and Wendy Curtis. The peaceful witnesses were also even able to convince one of the four women to choose life for her child instead, also thanks to the help and support from a friend of hers.
Pro-life activists have been at the facility at the urging of Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. “We rejoice with the pro-life advocates who stood vigil at Planned Parenthood in Kansas City last week, and thank God for the blessing of saved lives,” he said about these results from the previous week.
This good news not only celebrates the life of these unborn children, but of their mothers. Up until the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services granted the facility its license, abortions were only performed at the St. Louis location, which has since 2009 sent 67 patients to the hospital following their abortions, though they’re not the only facility to do so. The Kansas City facility in question has also been described as “shabby” by Operation Rescue.
READ: Report: Planned Parenthood With Expired License Sends Woman into Seizures.
Planned Parenthood was prohibited from expanding their abortion services to other locations in the state by a recent ruling from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals by issuing a stay. Planned Parenthood has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to block the stay. Newman acknowledged the petition as well. “We pray that the state will be victorious over Planned Parenthood’s Supreme Court petition and over its lawsuit so lives can continue to be saved,” he said.