Planned Parenthood of St. Louis says it will no longer conduct 'unethical' pelvic exams ordered by the state
Doctors at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, the only abortion clinic still operating in Missouri, will no longer perform two pelvic exams on patients, as mandated by the state earlier this month, CBS News reports.
Missouri's Republican-led government enacted a rule that forced doctors to perform a pelvic exam on women 72 hours before they have an abortion; already, doctors conduct pelvic exams right before the procedure. The clinic's medical director, Dr. David Eisenberg, told CBS News on Wednesday that after performing these extra exams over the last few weeks, "I have new evidence to say that 100 percent of the patients who I've taken care of who've undergone this inappropriate, medically unnecessary, unethical pelvic exam have been harmed by that. Because to do so, in my opinion, is just assault."
The doctors consider the pelvic exam conducted right before an abortion to be medically relevant, and will continue the practice. Last month, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit after Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services refused to make a decision over whether to renew the clinic's license. A preliminary injunction is keeping the doors open, and a judge gave the state until this Friday to decide about the license.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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