Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, Missouri is appealing a judge's ruling that required the clinic to hand over patient files exposing whether puberty blockers and transgender procedures were performed on children.
The clinic filed the appeal in the 22nd Judicial Court in St. Louis on Friday, arguing that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's civil investigative demand was "improperly issued" because it did not reference Planned Parenthood in the 54 requests.
Missouri's Merchandising Practices Act allows Bailey to obtain patient documents because they do not fall under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protections, St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer ruled earlier this month. But Planned Parenthood claims the civil investigative demand was "improperly issued in reliance" of the merchandising act.
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"The sworn affidavit directed to Washington University's complaint of practices being investigated by the Missouri AG did not explicitly or implicitly reference [Planned Parenthood] in any way whatsoever," the appeal read.
Bailey has "weaponized" the attorney general's office to "carry out a political campaign," Richard Muniz, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, told Fox News Digital.
"We’re asking the court of appeals to put a halt to Bailey’s pretextual and lawless investigation, because Missourians should not have to live in fear of having their essential and lifesaving care dismantled — or their private health information scrutinized by politicians," Muniz said.
The Planned Parenthood CEO added the clinic will not back down from "this sham investigation."
The appeal comes as Bailey is issuing a series of investigations into how transgender health clinics have offered services to kids. Bailey singled out Planned Parenthood for its part in dragging out the investigation.
"It’s disappointing that Planned Parenthood doesn’t want to comply with our investigation that merely seeks to ensure children weren’t experimented on without parental consent," Bailey told Fox News Digital in a statement Friday. "As a father of four, this fight to protect children is personal for me. We will not let up. I look forward to prevailing in court on this matter once again."
Of the three clinics Bailey has won against in court, only one has handed over documents: Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
A Planned Parenthood clinic in Great Plains has filed an appeal to keep their documents private while a St. Louis-based Planned Parenthood in St. Louis has yet to send Bailey's office any of its patient documents.
According to the court opinion, Planned Parenthood attempted to block Bailey's inquiry and argued that Bailey's office "failed to show" how they were "directly involved in his investigation" of transgender clinics.
Last year, Bailey launched a multi-agency investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center (TGC) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after a whistleblower went public and accused the hospital of lying to parents of patients.
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The AG's inquiry into the TGC "seeks all records for all patients treated at the TGC, among other requests seeking private and protected health information. These records involve more than 1,000 patients."
Jamie Reed said in an affidavit submitted to the attorney general's office in early 2023 that she was employed as a case manager at the children's hospital from 2018 until November 2022. She accused hospital employees at the transgender center of lying to the parents of patients, among many other issues.
Just a few months later, Missouri enacted a law outlawing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-transition surgeries for minors.
