The history of abortion access in Missouri is marked by a cycle of legal challenges and reversals. The pattern continued in March, when Planned Parenthood’s clinic in the Central West End performed its first abortion since the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
But the restoration of abortion access turned out to be brief. Last week, a ruling by Missouri’s Supreme Court effectively brought the ban back in a ruling that, for now, has halted two earlier court decisions that had allowed abortions to restart.
The ruling means that most abortions are once again prohibited by state law.
“We had abortion appointments scheduled. We had to take down those appointments,” said Dr. Margaret Baum, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. “Patients had to be told they could no longer have their procedures as scheduled in Missouri.”
Baum has experienced this pattern before. She said she performed one of the last abortions in Missouri before the federal Dobbs decision triggered the state’s immediate ban on the procedure.
“We knew [Dobbs] was coming. The writing was on the wall,” she said. “As we continued to provide abortion in the state of Missouri over the years, Missouri enacted more and more restrictions. It became more and more difficult.”
That trend led Planned Parenthood in 2019 to open a new Illinois facility — in Fairview Heights. The location, which is a 20-minute drive from downtown St. Louis, has become a refuge for patients traveling from Missouri and other states that have banned abortion.
Baum noted that Missouri’s abortion law has also driven medical professionals from the state. “People don't want to be trained to be an OB-GYN in states in which abortion training is not available,” she said. “We're going to lose providers.”
Baum has spent 20 years as an OB-GYN and abortion provider. Before being named to the role of chief medical officer, she spent five years as Planned Parenthood Great Rivers’ medical director.
On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, Baum discussed her reaction to the recent state Supreme Court decision and ongoing opposition to abortion from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. She also discussed a recent NPR report that documented a trend of financial struggles and closures of Planned Parenthood clinics in other states — including four in Illinois earlier this year.
“Some Planned Parenthoods have had to make difficult financial decisions because of this external pressure and the inability to get funding to care for these patients,” Baum said. “Missouri has been a very difficult state to operate in for much longer than some of these other states. We have not been funded by Missouri Medicaid for a number of years. However, we continue to care for Medicaid patients because that is part of our mission to [provide] care no matter what.”
She added, “We do not have any plans to curtail services at this time.”
To hear the full conversation with Dr. Margaret Baum, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
