COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 An attorney for Planned Parenthood Great Plains asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey that alleges the group helped organize abortions for minors out of state without parental consent.
The entire lawsuit is based on hypothetical allegations from a video posted by the conservative group Project Veritas, attorney John Hirth told Boone County Circuit Court Judge Brouck Jacobs on Monday.
鈥淭here is no allegation that any child, any minor, has been taken across state lines,鈥 Hirth said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no allegation that any abortion has been performed here in Missouri or outside Missouri, with or without parental consent. The whole conversation is hypothetical.鈥
Jacobs held a one-day hearing in Columbia over a motion from Planned Parenthood Great Plains that seeks to either dismiss the lawsuit or require Bailey to file a more definitive complaint. Jacobs did not immediately rule on the motion Monday and said he would take the matter under advisement.
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The lawsuit, filed in February, accuses the organization of working to pay for abortions for minors, as well as providing transportation and lodging. The lawsuit asserts that the organization represented to schools that minors should be excused for medical reasons without disclosing it was for an abortion.
Missouri bans all abortions, except for in medical emergencies, under a 2019 law that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Kathryn Monroe, an attorney in Bailey鈥檚 office, on Monday reiterated the allegations laid out in the lawsuit and asked Jacobs to deny the motion from Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Bailey, a Republican running for a full term, has frequently cited the lawsuit, and the Project Veritas video at issue, to attack Planned Parenthood. He has cast the challenge as part of an effort to 鈥渆radicate鈥 Planned Parenthood and wants an injunction against the organization.
The lawsuit鈥檚 allegations stem from an undercover video posted last year by Project Veritas, a right-wing group with a history of using hidden cameras to embarrass its targets.
The video purports to show conversations with Planned Parenthood employees, filmed surreptitiously, in which they describe how a 13-year-old girl can obtain an abortion in Kansas without her parent鈥檚 knowing.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains has said the video was filmed without the staff鈥檚 knowledge or consent and had been heavily doctored and edited. The organization also doesn鈥檛 provide any transportation directly to patients, regardless of age or location.
Hirth said on Monday that the video doesn鈥檛 show Planned Parenthood employees engaging in conduct of any kind and only deals with free speech. He pointed to a 2012 Missouri Supreme Court ruling which found that while Missouri law bans helping minors obtain abortions without parental consent, that does not apply to 鈥減roviding information or counseling.鈥
鈥淭o the extent that it (the video) suggests some conduct might happen, the conduct that might happen is in Kansas,鈥 Hirth said. 鈥淏y providing that information and that counseling, the Planned Parenthood employees in the video have done nothing more than speech.鈥
Monroe responded on Monday that while the video dealt with a hypothetical 13-year-old girl, the employees at Planned Parenthood did not know that.
鈥淓ven though what we see on the video is perhaps speech and a hypothetical, there was admitted conduct about what they would do in this actual situation,鈥 she said.
The Star鈥檚 Jonathan Shorman contributed to this story.
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