Health

Health system stops, then resumes Plan B amid Missouri’s abortion ban ambiguity

Saint Luke’s Health System, which operates 17 hospitals, pharmacies and urgent care clinics in the Kansas City area, announced on Wednesday afternoon that it will resume providing emergency contraceptives following comments from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson clarifying that the new abortion ban does not affect Plan B or similar products.

The health system earlier today said it would no longer provide Plan B at its Missouri locations as a result of the state’s law banning nearly all abortions.

Following last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion providers in Missouri could face criminal prosecution and prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years.

In a statement, Laurel Gifford, a spokesperson for Saint Luke’s, said the hospital network made its decision out of an abundance of caution.

“To ensure we adhere to all state and federal laws — and until the law in this area becomes better defined — Saint Luke’s will not provide emergency contraception at our Missouri-based locations,” Gifford said.

University Health, formerly Truman Medical Centers, said it would continue to offer emergency contraceptives in both of its Missouri-based facilities. University Health spokesperson Leslie Carto said the hospital didn’t believe that conflicted with the state’s abortion law.

At a news conference in St. Louis Tuesday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was unclear on whether people should be worried about access to birth control. He said the health department was in the process of clarifying the law.

Missouri’s abortion law does not specifically address emergency contraceptives such as Plan B, commonly known as the “morning-after pill,” and Planned Parenthood, for one, has said it doesn’t believe the law will affect access to birth control.

Still, Gifford said Saint Luke’s couldn’t risk subjecting its health care providers to the possibility of prosecution.

“The Missouri law is ambiguous, but may be interpreted as criminalizing emergency contraception,” she said earlier today. “As a system that deeply cares about its team, we simply cannot put our clinicians in a position that might result in criminal prosecution.”

Emergency contraceptives and other reproductive care services continue to be available at the hospital network’s Kansas locations.