ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Today, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit and a motion for preliminary injunction against the City of St. Louis after the signing of Board Bill 61, which authorizes federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to provide “logistical support” for abortion, including travel expenses and other costs of obtaining out-of-state abortions. The lawsuit argues that the City’s “Reproductive Equity Fund” plainly violates § 188.205, RSMo, which reads, “It shall be unlawful for any public funds to be expended for the purpose of performing or assisting an abortion, not necessary to save the life of the mother, or for the purpose of encouraging or counseling a woman to have an abortion not necessary to save her life.”
“As Attorney General, I’ve tirelessly fought to uphold the sanctity of life in Missouri. The move by the City of St. Louis to use taxpayer dollars to help push out-of-state abortions plainly and clearly violates Missouri law,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “My Office today filed suit to put a stop to Mayor Jones and the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s blatantly illegal move to spend Missourians’ hard-earned tax dollars on out-of-state abortions.”
On July 15, 2022, the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen passed Board Bill 61 (BB61), which established a “Reproductive Equity Fund” funded by $1.5 million in ARPA funds. As the lawsuit states, “Of that $1.5 million, $1 million in the Reproductive Equity Fund ‘provide[s] access to...
Two Texas clinics under the same ownership have agreed to pay the government $20 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they lied about COVID-19 billing, according to the U.S.... To vi...