WASHINGTON — An hour before the Supreme Court issued its June 24 decision overturning the national right to an abortion, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri issued a personal plea to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra: Please declare a public health emergency related to abortion.
In the weeks since that decision, Colleen McNicholas, who made her case to Becerra at an event with Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said wait times for appointments in some areas of her state have shot up from three to four days to three weeks.
“Senators, I come before you tired, frustrated and angry,” McNicholas told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “Those on the front lines don’t need more empty gestures. We need action, and we need it now. We are out of time.”
