Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who is running for president in 2020, announced Tuesday that she will be visiting St. Louis to hold a reproductive rights town hall. The town hall will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday at Delmar Hall. Gillibrand will also reportedly use the visit to meet privately with Missouri patients and providers.
In a tweet, the senator wrote that "With one licensed abortion provider left in the state, the people of MO know what a post-Roe reality would look like: They're already living it."
Abortion care in Missouri—which has one remaining provider, St. Louis' Planned Parenthood clinic on Forest Park Avenue—has made national headlines the past few months. In May, Gov. Mike Parson signed into law House Bill 126, which outlaws abortions in Missouri after eight weeks of gestation.
In June, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced that it was denying the clinic’s license renewal application, which would halt abortion care but would not require Planned Parenthood to close altogether. Planned Parenthood filed suit against the DHSS. A hearing with Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi has been scheduled for the end of October.
