Lawmakers question connection between University of Missouri and Planned Parenthood abortion procedures

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Intro:	For the second hearing in a row, the head of the Department of Health and Senior Services did not answer questions from Missouri lawmakers.
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Wrap: At the second Planned Parenthood hearing, Director of Health and Senior Services Gail Vasterling didn't answer questions about the legality of allowing abortions at the Columbia Planned Parenthood.

The Senate Sanctity of Life committee asked Vasterling about the University of Missouri Hospital's decision to give a doctor privileges that would allow her to perform medical abortion procedures in Columbia.

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Description: "I get the feeling that no one is taking this process seriously at DHSS and I would say that it's starting to wear on the people that have put in a lot of time to go through these documents and come down to Jeff City and attend these hearings."

Republican committee chair Kurt Schaefer also questioned Vasterling's inability to disclose the name of the pathologist the St. Louis Planned Parenthood sends fetal tissue to.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Nicole Shaddy.

Intro:	Lawmakers investigating Planned Parenthood in Missouri are frustrated with the health department officals' inability to explain abortion procedures in the state.
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Wrap: One health dpeartment official unable to answer repeated questions after Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer pressed him for specifics about how aborted fetal tissue is handled following a procedure

He questioned whether offcials actually read reports sent to the department from Planned Parenthood and the pathologist after an abortion is performed.

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Description: "I don't think it'd be in the law if we just wanted DHSS to have another paperweight. Does anyone at DHSS actually look at those pathology reports?"

The Health Department eventually offered up the name of the pathology lab that handles tissue samples later on in the hearing.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Nicole Shaddy.

Intro:	The University of Missouri chancellor was called in front of a committee of lawmakers to testify on the school's connection to abortion procedures by Planned Parenthood.
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Wrap: Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer questioned the legality of the University Hospital granting privileges to a doctor that allow her to perform abortion procedures in Columbia at today's Planned Parenthood hearing.

Schaefer pressed Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin for the university's reasoning for giving the doctor these privileges.

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Description: "The concept that the University of Missouri had to grant credentials to this doctor who doesn't even live in the community is patently absurd."

The doctor hired by Columbia's Planned Parenthood to perform these abortions works at hospitals in St. Louis.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Nicole Shaddy.