Missouri Governor Signs Bill Into Law With New Regulations on Abortion Providers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri abortion providers will face new regulations for their clinics and new restrictions on teaching sex education classes under a bill Gov. Matt Blunt signed into law Friday.

The measure places more abortion clinics under government oversight by classifying them as ambulatory surgical centers. Planned Parenthood has said the law could force it to spend more than $1 million on remodeling, plus some extra staffing costs.

The law also bars people affiliated with abortion providers from teaching or supplying materials for public school sex education courses, and it allows schools to offer abstinence-only programs.

Missouri Right to Life, which backed the measure, argued that groups like Planned Parenthood have a conflict of interest in supplying sex education materials because they could make money if female students go to their clinics.

An official with Planned Parenthood, which has several staffers who visit public schools, called that assertion "political propaganda."

"Essentially, what Governor 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 licenses facilities that get at least half of their revenue or patients from abortions. Only one, a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, falls under that licensing requirement.

The Department of Health and Senior Services said the new law would require three other clinics to be licensed. The department didn't identify them, but Planned Parenthood said its offices in Columbia and Kansas City would be affected.

The organization is considering a legal challenge.