Why Missouri attorney general is demanding abortion patient medical records

Matthew Kelly, The Kansas City Star on Oct 10, 2025

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As her office fights in court to preserve Missouri abortion restrictions, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has issued subpoenas demanding patient medical records, incident reports, and communication about patient care from Planned Parenthood.

The attorney general’s office is defending the state in a case brought by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Missouri last November, the day after voters removed the ban on abortion up to the point of fetal viability.

The plaintiffs argue that certain regulations enacted by Missouri lawmakers — such as mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and a required 72-hour waiting period between initial appointments and surgical abortions — are now unconstitutional.

Among other records, Hanaway’s office is seeking “adverse event documentation” from Planned Parenthood.

“The subpoenas at issue seek documentation of patient complaints, including evidence of harm and serious safety violations that occurred under Planned Parenthood’s watch,” said Abigail Bergmann, a spokesperson for the AG’s office.

“These records go directly to the heart of the State’s responsibility to protect Missourians from unsafe and unlawful practices,” she added in an email.

In a joint statement, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and ACLU said Hanaway’s office overreached by demanding abortion patients’ medical records to help make the case that existing abortion restrictions are necessary.

“Despite the Missouri attorney general’s blatant attempts to overturn the will of the people, all patients expect and have the right for their medical records to be private,” the statement reads. “Politicians have no place in the exam room with patients and their medical providers, and that’s why we will keep fighting for patients and their rights.”

In court filings, the clinics have portrayed the various limitations on when and how abortions can be performed as “parts of a web of impenetrable, onerous, and medically unnecessary restrictions targeted at abortion providers.”

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang has already temporarily halted some Missouri abortion restrictions, allowing Planned Parenthood to begin offering procedural abortions again while the case plays out.

Now, plaintiffs are asking Zhang to throw out the subpoenas.

“This is nothing more than an attempt to harass (Planned Parenthood) and should not be permitted by the court,” attorneys for the clinics said in a filing.

Bergmann, the AG spokesperson, said issuing subpoenas after the lawsuit’s discovery phase ended is appropriate, considering the facts of the case.

“Planned Parenthood chose to identify individuals with firsthand knowledge of patient harm as key witnesses in this case, then objected when we sought testimony from those very people, forcing the state to obtain that information through subpoenas,” Bergmann said. “It’s a blatant effort to keep the public from learning the full extent of what has happened inside those clinics.

Hanaway’s office also subpoenaed two former Planned Parenthood Great Rivers board members, one physician contracted by Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, according to court records.

The lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in January, mirrors a high-stakes Johnson County case that could reshape access to reproductive health care in Kansas, as Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers challenge a bevy of state-level abortion restrictions.

In that bench trial, which will conclude next Friday, the Kansas Attorney General’s office is expected to call witnesses to the stand to describe their medical complications and negative experiences with abortion clinic staff.

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