After U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughery last week ordered Missouri to continue licensing the Columbia Planned Parenthood office through the end of the month, state Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard asked Attorney General Chris Koster either to appoint a special prosecutor - or work harder to defend existing state law.
"Based on the apparent reluctance of your office to vigorously defend the law as passed," Richard wrote Koster in a two-page letter issued last week, "we hereby request that you name a special assistant attorney general to perform the duties of your office who will use every legal tool available to zealously defend the rule of law in this matter. ...
"Should you decline to name such a special assist, I urge you to promptly undertake a vigorous defense of the law, including an immediate challenge to (Wednesday's) district court decision."
Spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said Friday that Koster's office is defending Health and Senior Services in the lawsuit, and will continue to do so. She offered no other comment.
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which operates the Columbia clinic, sued the department in federal court last Monday to prevent the state from canceling the clinic's license to perform abortions on Dec. 1 as the department had planned to do.
The department's action was based on the clinic's being unable to comply with a 2007 state law that requires doctors providing abortions to have privileges with a local hospital.
The Columbia clinic had those privileges with the nearby University Hospital until now-former MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin withdrew those privileges on the recommendation of a medical school committee. Loftin's successor said last week the university would continue withholding those privileges.
The Planned Parenthood lawsuit accused the state of trying to revoke the clinic's license without giving Planned Parenthood enough time to come into compliance with the state laws.
Without the hospital privileges - even though the Columbia clinic keeps its license at least until the end of December when Laughery has scheduled another hearing - a woman seeking an abortion in Missouri can get one only at Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic.
State Solicitor General James Layton argued during a conference call with Laughery last week there was no harm in allowing the state to revoke the Columbia clinic's license immediately because no abortions are being performed there anyway.
The judge agreed with Layton's fact but used it in Planned Parenthood's favor, saying: "Neither patient nor public welfare is at risk by (Planned Parenthood) maintaining its license."
Richard's letter said the attorney general's office didn't try hard enough to stop the clinic's license.
"I have been advised that the plaintiff (Planned Parenthood) failed to establish that the federal court even has jurisdiction in this matter," Richard, R-Joplin, wrote Koster. "As you are well aware, jurisdiction is of first and foremost importance as a matter of law and it must be addressed before a court can claim authority to even entertain the case.
"Yet here, there appears to be a breathtaking overreach by the federal court which failed to establish its own jurisdiction by specifying what federal question is even up for consideration."
Additionally, Richard said, Planned Parenthood's lawsuit appears to violate a 2010 legal settlement, where the agency "agreed to forego forever bringing a lawsuit against the state of Missouri in this matter."
But, the Senate leader told Koster: "Inexplicably, this binding agreement was not even mentioned by attorneys from your office in any of the recent legal proceedings, including (Wednesday's) hearing."
Richard reminded Koster the Legislature is "the branch of government responsible for giving voice to the citizens of our great State."
He said Koster must act "to defend the principle of the rule of law" and asked for "a prompt response at your earliest possible convenience."
The Associated Press contributed information used in this story.