JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A failed bid to shut down Missouri's lone abortion provider will cost the state $140,000.
Administration Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi granted on Friday the request from Planned Parenthood for legal fees as well as $6,600 spent on an expert witness, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
A four-day trial in October 2019 highlighted the state's efforts to close the facility by denying it a license to operate based on allegations it had botched abortions.
Attorneys for Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care, contended the state “cherry-picked” a handful of difficult cases out of thousands of otherwise successful abortions.
Dandamudi ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood last year. Officials at the organization later said a new licensing inspection process was less confrontational than one in 2019 that was led by employees of state health chief Randall Williams.
Soon after, Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office said it would not pursue further appeals.