Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has sued the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for what he describes as downplaying the dangers of a pill used to terminate pregnancies.
The suit, filed in Cole County Circuit Court, rests on claims Planned Parenthood has made about the drug mifepristone. The pill is frequently used with another drug, misoprostol, to induce abortions of early pregnancies.
Bailey alleges those claims violate the state's Merchandising Practice Act, which outlaws false advertising.
The law is designed to prosecute fraudulent business practices. Bailey two years ago used similar reasoning under the same law to install an emergency rule prohibiting trans health procedures for people under 18.
The suit quotes the federal Food and Drug Administration, which says that up to one out of every 20 to 25 people who take the drug later visit the emergency room. Bailey argues that means Planned Parenthood is lying when it says the drug is as safe as Tylenol and other medicines.
The suit seeks close to $2 million in penalties as well as damages for every Missourian who received such drugs through Planned Parenthood in the past five years. It also seeks to prevent the organization from making "illegal false statements misrepresenting the abortion pill" in Cole County.
Planned Parenthood Vice President of Abortion Access Danika Severino Wynn called the lawsuit "meritless" in a statement and said Bailey had repeatedly "spread lies and disinformation to push his own anti-abortion agenda."
"Mifepristone is safe, effective, and has been used by more than 7.5 million people in the U.S. for abortion and miscarriage care since the FDA approved it 25 years ago," Severino Wynn continued. "It has allowed patients to make their own private medical decisions, and expanded access to reproductive health care — something that is very clearly under threat in this country and in Missouri."
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