Missouri is set to become the first state without an abortion clinic if the last abortion clinic loses its license this week as expected.
Planned Parenthood says Missouri’s health department is “refusing to renew” its annual license to provide abortions in the state. If the annual license is not approved for the last remaining abortion clinic by May 31, Missouri will effectively become the only state without an abortion clinic since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
Planned Parenthood will still be allowed to provide non-abortion services in the state.
Planned Parenthood plans to file a lawsuit against the state “in order to try to keep serving Missouri women.”
“This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis,” said Dr. Leana Wen, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Wen told CBS News that the upcoming deadline follows weeks of back and forth negotiations with the state.
In a veiled effort to increase the Caucasian population, six states – including Georgia and Alabama – have passed restrictive reproductive health laws virtually banning all abortions.
The move to ban abortions comes as statistics show white people will no longer be the majority racial group in the United States by 2055 according to the Pew Research Center.
The current population in America is 48% white, 24% Hispanic, 14% Asian, and 13% Black.
Black women accounted for the most abortions as a racial group. Many argue that Planned Parenthood has practiced population control in low income communities for decades.
Photos by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images | Getty Images/Source Image | Marc Piscotty/Getty Images
