Missouri state health director tracked Planned Parenthood patients' periods on a spreadsheet

The Planned Parenthood in St. Louis clinic.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dr. Randall Williams, director of Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, testified on Tuesday that he kept a spreadsheet tracking the menstrual cycles of women who visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis.

He discussed the matter during an administrative hearing, which will determine whether the clinic — the only one in Missouri to provide abortions — will lose its license to perform the procedure. In June, the state refused to renew the license, claiming there were concerns over four women having to return to the clinic because they had failed abortions; a federal judge ordered the clinic to remain open. Planned Parenthood says Missouri "cherry-picked" these cases, ignoring thousands of routine abortions and focusing on those outside the norm.

Williams said the cycles were tracked because the state wanted to identify women who had to make more than one trip to the clinic. The spreadsheet was found by Planned Parenthood attorneys during legal discovery, and Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D) said she wants an investigation opened into the matter to see if any privacy laws were violated.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.