Missouri’s Single Abortion Clinic Allowed to Continue Providing Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2020
Contact: Marisa Rodriguez, [email protected]

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the single remaining abortion clinic in Missouri will continue to offer essential health care for patients across the state and region

Statement from Andrea Miller, President, The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH)

MISSOURI – Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), released the following statement today celebrating the continuation of abortion services at the only remaining abortion clinic in the state. A state commission today decided that Gov. Michael Parson’s health department wrongfully blocked the clinic’s license for reproductive health services.

“The politically motivated attack upon the only abortion clinic in the state was slapped down, allowing the clinic to continue to provide essential and time-sensitive abortion care,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “At a time when people of Missouri and across the region may already be facing other barriers, such as loss of steady income, child care, and general stability in face of the coronavirus outbreak, access to high-quality and affordable abortion care in their own region is critical. Thankfully, clinic doors will not have to shut due to cheap political gamesmanship. But we never should’ve gotten this close. NIRH’s work to advance abortion access on the state level is more crucial than ever. And while we are engaged in a moment of global anxiety over the coronavirus, staying safe is a community endeavor — and that includes safe access to abortion care in our communities.

For more than four decades, NIRH has been a leader in the fight to advance reproductive freedom across the country. Recently, they were integral to the successful efforts to pass proactive laws to safeguard abortion access in Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. Earlier this year, NIRH published a report tracking the passage of more than 100 bills to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice in 27 states and the District of Columbia.

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The National Institute for Reproductive Health builds power at the state and local level to change public policy, galvanize public support, and normalize women’s decisions about abortion and contraception.

Using a partnership model, NIRH provides state and local advocates with strategic guidance, hands-on support, and funding to create national change from the ground up. We form strategic partnerships with a wide range of organizations to directly impact the reproductive health and lives of women across the country. Each year, NIRH works in at least 20 states and more than a dozen localities; to date, NIRH has partnered with 181 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in 43 states and 71 localities across the country.