News from the South - Missouri News Feed
Missouri health department rejects Planned Parenthood plan to start medication abortions

by Anna Spoerre, Missouri Independent
March 28, 2025
Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics remain unable to offer medication abortions after the state rejected their complication plans this week.
Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which operates clinics in the St. Louis region, Rolla and Springfield, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates clinics in Kansas City and Columbia, received a letter from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on Thursday stating their complication plans did not meet state requirements.
The decision means that almost five months after voters approved a constitutional amendment restoring abortion rights, the most common method to terminate a pregnancy is not available in Missouri.
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This rejection was based on the criteria of an emergency rule published the same day by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
That rule requires the complication plan for any facility prescribing abortion medication to more than 10 women a month must:
Have an on-call OB-GYN who lives within 25 miles of the clinic available at all times for seven days after a patient takes the medication. This physician would be required to treat any complications that arise as a result of the medication unless the standard of care requires someone else to treat them. Provide for patients who live further than 25 miles from the clinic, the name of the emergency room and a physician “within a reasonable distance of the location where the patient will complete the abortion.”Submit the full names of all physicians involved in the local complication plans.
While three clinics —Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis — have resumed some procedural abortions, Planned Parenthood leadership have said they will not begin prescribing medication abortions without an approved complication plan.
Leadership with Planned Parenthood Great Rivers is still deciding on next steps, a spokesperson said.
The Department of Health and Senior Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement in February, department spokeswoman Sami Jo Freeman said complication plans are “important to ensure the safety of patients because medication abortions will likely be completed at home without a physician present.”
When the clinics submitted their complication plans in February, they did not include the names of any physicians involved. The proposals state that patients could contact the clinic at any time with concerns, including an after-hours line staffed by licensed nurses who can refer calls to an on-call physician.
“If a potentially urgent complication is suspected based on the patient’s symptoms or the patient is not able to return to the health center in a timely way, the nurse will direct them to the emergency department (ED),” the initial plans submitted by Planned Parenthood read.
With the patient’s consent, the proposal continued, the ER would be told the patient’s medical history if possible. Planned Parenthood would follow up with the patient the next day.
Across the country, abortion medication is the most common method used to end a pregnancy.
In 2023, nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States took place using medication as opposed to in-clinic procedures, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group.
In states where abortion is legal, medication that induces a miscarriage is available to patients in their first trimester of pregnancy. Patients typically take two doses of medication, the second of which is often taken at home. In recent years, a growing number of women have been ordering abortion medication from online providers in the United States and abroad, including to states where abortion remains illegal.
According to the FDA, mifepristone is safe to use if taken as directed. Cramping and bleeding are common side effects of the medication. Those prescribed mifepristone are urged to call their doctor if they experience heavy bleeding, abdominal pain or a fever. The same guidance applies to those who recently underwent procedural abortions, experienced miscarriages or delivered a baby.
Since the medication was approved for use 28 years ago, only 32 deaths have been reported associated with mifepristone, according to the FDA.
Earlier this month, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a notice of an intent to serve a cease and desist letter to the Planned Parenthood clinics, doubling down on his demand that Planned Parenthood stop performing a type of abortion that its clinics aren’t actually offering patients.
Several Planned Parenthood clinics remained open even after the procedure was outlawed statewide in June 2022. The clinics primarily provide family planning services, cancer screenings and STI testing and treatment, including to patients on Medicaid.
Shortly after Missourians in November narrowly approved Amendment 3, granting the constitutional right to an abortion, Planned Parenthood sued the state, arguing dozens of regulations on abortion providers were no longer constitutional.
In mid-February, a Jackson County judge struck down most of the regulations, allowing Planned Parenthood to resume in-clinic procedural abortions for the first time in years.
Abortion returns to Columbia, opening access for mid-Missouri for first time since 2018
The first abortion to happen in Missouri since the procedure was outlawed statewide in June 2022 took place in February at a Kansas City clinic. In early March, procedural abortions returned to the clinic in Columbia for the first time since 2018.
And on Thursday, the clinic in St. Louis quietly performed its first two abortions since 2022.
The clinic plans to take additional abortion patients who are earlier than 12 weeks gestation over the coming weeks, but the number of days abortion is provided in St. Louis will depend on physicians’ schedules, Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, said Friday.
Staff at the St. Louis clinic did not initially indicate they would bring back procedural abortions this soon.
“Ahead of the December ruling, our staff had been preparing to start providing medication abortion — including staff training, as well as ordering supplies and medications,” Dunne said in a statement. “Recognizing more recently that we were likely to face additional hurdles from state officials on medication abortion, our medical and patient services teams pivoted to allocating staff, equipment, and other necessary resources in order to begin offering procedural abortion again.”
Planned Parenthood likely won’t be able to begin offering procedural abortions at its clinics in Rolla or Springfield until additional physicians are hired, Dunne said, adding that Planned Parenthood is “working aggressively” to expand their physician numbers.
There are currently two long-term staff physicians and one contracted physician at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which also oversees the clinic in Fairview Heights. The two long-term physicians are both based in the St. Louis area.
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Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
The post Missouri health department rejects Planned Parenthood plan to start medication abortions appeared first on missouriindependent.com
News from the South - Missouri News Feed
Billy Long’s bid to lead IRS under scrutiny over donations that paid off personal debt

by Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent
April 19, 2025
Former Missouri Congressman Billy Long received $137,000 in campaign contributions — just enough to pay off a personal loan to his campaign — soon after he was tapped to lead the Internal Revenue Service.
Some of the donations are connected to companies that will be policed by the agency Long has been nominated to run.
According to recently filed financial disclosures, which were first reported on by the investigative journalism site The Lever, Long only raised roughly $36,000 in the last two years.
He was named as President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the IRS in December, and in January received $137,000 in donations. He then paid back the remaining $130,000 in debt from a $250,000 loan he made to his unsuccessful 2022 U.S. Senate campaign.
The donations, and their timing, have renewed criticism of Long’s appointment, which still awaits Senate confirmation. Senate Democrats have already called for a criminal investigation of firms with ties to Long that they allege are involved in fraudulent tax credit schemes.
Among the donors to Long’s campaign are financial advisers from some of those firms.
“When they told Billy he’d be in charge of revenue collection, did they forget to tell him that meant for the American people, not his own bank account?” said Sean Nicholson, a longtime progressive activist and campaign consultant in Missouri.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for the liberal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the timing of the donations and the “explicit knowledge that they’d end up directly in Long’s bank account, it’s hard to see them as anything other than an attempt to curry favor with the future head of the IRS.”
Long did not respond to a request for comment.
Billy Long, Trump’s nominee to lead IRS, touts credential tax experts say is dubious
After a career as an auctioneer and conservative radio host, Long served six terms representing a Southwest Missouri congressional district. He gave up his seat to run for U.S. Senate in 2022, losing in the GOP primary to now-Sen. Eric Schmitt.
Long then worked for Lifetime Advisors and earned at least $5,000 in income from White River Energy. Both companies have drawn scorn from Senate Democrats, and intense media scrutiny, over their involvement in controversial tax credit programs.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a limit on the amount of post-election funds a candidate can use to pay back personal loans. The majority found the limit an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech, while the dissenting justices argued removing it would pave the way for political corruption.
“Even if our broken campaign finance system allows this behavior,” Libowitz said, “it raises serious questions about future conflicts of interest and needs to be addressed in any hearings (Billy Long) has before Congress.”
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
The post Billy Long’s bid to lead IRS under scrutiny over donations that paid off personal debt appeared first on missouriindependent.com
News from the South - Missouri News Feed
Illinois family desperate for answers after man goes missing in Mississippi River

SUMMARY: An Illinois family is urgently seeking answers after 52-year-old Shane Bear fell into the Mississippi River while being chased by police over the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge on Wednesday night. The family fears that the search efforts have slowed and that their loved one may still be alive. Bear, who had mental health struggles and outstanding warrants, was reportedly attempting to climb under the bridge when he slipped and fell into the river. Illinois State Police, alongside the Coast Guard and local fire departments, have conducted aerial and boat searches, but the family demands more thorough efforts.

An Illinois family is demanding police do more after they said their loved one fell into the Mississippi River.
They said it happened as he was being chased by police Wednesday night over the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge.
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News from the South - Missouri News Feed
Missouri health department announces first measles case of 2025

by Clara Bates, Missouri Independent
April 18, 2025
Missouri’s first confirmed measles case of the year involves a child in Taney County, the health department announced Friday afternoon.
The child’s vaccination status “has not yet been verified,” according to the press release.
The child, who is not a Missouri resident, was visiting Taney County and was diagnosed “soon after arrival,” Lisa Cox, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a press release.
Taney County is in southwest Missouri, and its largest city is Branson.
“Exposure is believed to be limited, and known contacts have been identified and contacted,” Cox said, adding that the state is supporting Taney County’s health department to investigate possible exposure.
The case is “associated with recent international travel,” Cox said.
Measles is a highly-contagious virus the country declared eliminated 25 years ago, but that has resurged with falling vaccination rates.
“For those unvaccinated or those unsure of their vaccination status, now is the time to review records and get caught up if needed,” Dr. George Turabelidze, state epidemiologist with DHSS, said in the press release.
The percent of Missouri kindergarteners fully vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella has declined over the last several years, from 95% in the 2019-2020 school year to 91% in the 2023-2024 school year, in public schools, per DHHS data. In private schools, the drop has been even larger, from 92% to 85% in the same period.
Nationally, there are at least 800 reported cases of measles across 25 states, according to Center for Disease Control data as of Friday. That doesn’t include Missouri’s case, Cox said, because the state received lab test results Thursday night, after the federal reporting deadline for this week.
That is the highest number for a single year since 2019 and is still growing.
The majority of measles infections nationally have been reported in a West Texas outbreak. There have been two confirmed deaths, both in Texas.
Kansas has reported 37 cases, possibly linked to the Texas outbreak.
There are outbreaks in Canada and Mexico, too, and several states have reported isolated cases as the result of international travel.
At the same time, the federal government has cut grant funding set aside for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to encourage vaccinations, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
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Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
The post Missouri health department announces first measles case of 2025 appeared first on missouriindependent.com
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