Planned Parenthood files legal challenge to investigation, document demands by Tennessee AG

Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi petitioned a Nashville court on Wednesday to set aside a sweeping legal demand by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to turn over the organization’s donor details, healthcare provider information and the medical records of adult and minor patients.

The legal petition, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, makes public for the first time the existence of an ongoing and wide-ranging investigation into the nonprofit operator of four Tennessee clinics. Since the state’s 2022 abortion ban, the organization has ceased offering abortions as part of its healthcare service; instead, it offers information and referrals to pregnant patients seeking abortions outside of Tennessee. 

In a Sept. 3 demand letter, Skrmetti appeared to target those post-abortion-ban services. The letter said the state “ had reason to believe” the organization had engaged in multiple violations of state law. Among Skrmetti’s demands are for the Planned Parenthood affiliate to turn over all documents, emails, and communications connected to “any person you assisted, helped or are otherwise aware of” who obtained abortion pills in the mail or via telemedicine. 

Earlier this week, Abortion Care Tennessee revealed it is also the subject of a similar demand letter and investigation by the attorney general that seeks extensive internal documents regarding the delivery of medication abortion by mail. Abortion Care Tennessee provides information and funding to Tennessee patients seeking abortions.

Skrmetti’s demand letter to Planned Parenthood also seeks records of patients treated for gender dysphoria or gender identity disorders, including the records of more than a dozen individuals identified by name whose individual clinical records are being sought as part of the probe. The patient names are redacted in a copy of the demand letter entered into court records. 

The 17-page demand letter also seeks “all medical records and files for any minors for whom you provided, administered or offered to provide or administer any cross-sex hormones…puberty blockers or related drugs or treatments after July 1, 2023” — the date Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors took effect. 

Planned Parenthood has never offered gender-affirming to minors, its legal petition said. It has also never provided abortion care via telehealth, a practice outlawed by Tennessee lawmakers in 2022.

In its legal petition, lawyers for Planned Parenthood called Skrmetti’s demands “unlawful,” “intrusive,” and an attack on its free speech rights to offer accurate information about abortion. It described the demands as the newest iteration in years of “hostility” directed against the organization by state leaders, citing multiple policy decisions that eliminated portions of the affiliate’s funding and legislation that has impacted its service. 

It also quoted disparaging comments from senior state political leaders, including Gov. Bill Lee, who called Planned Parenthood a “radical political organization.” 

The petition characterized the attorney general’s demand for internal documents, emails, patient pamphlets, patient records, mental health evaluation letters, healthcare provider credentials, donor records and other records as both a direct assault on the organization’s free speech rights and a prospective one, intended to chill speech going forward. 

In a written statement on Friday, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi CEO Ashley Coffield called Skrmetti’s investigation “politically motivated” and “deeply disturbing.”

“Attorney General Skrmetti is targeting Tennesseans across the state for seeking or getting essential health care services,” she said. 

“This is an obvious effort to further a political agenda to ban abortion, intimidate patients and providers, and shut down Planned Parenthood health centers, while violating the privacy of patients who have sought sexual and reproductive health care.”

A statement from Skrmetti on Friday said, “this office has the authority to request information when there may be a violation of state law that we enforce, and we routinely do so. A request for information lets us gather facts to determine whether further steps are necessary.”

The statement also said the attorney general would not comment on any “specific matter and will respond to any legal filings through the court.”

The demand letter 

Skrmetti’s demand letter begins by saying he has “reason to believe that Planned Parenthood is engaging in, has engaged in, or is about to engage in” multiple violations of state law. It cites the Consumer Protection Act, the Medicaid False Claims Act, the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporations Act and laws that bar gender-affirming care for minors and the prescribing and delivery of medication abortions through the mail. 

The letter cites legal penalties for noncompliance,  and instructs Planned Parenthood to provide 16 sets of documents and nine written statements, under oath, for the time period beginning Feb. 1, 2022 to the present, including:

• “All documents and communications regarding any person you assisted, helped, or are otherwise aware of who obtained abortion pills via the mail, delivery service, express company, common carrier, or telemedicine, including but not limited to any handouts, pamphlets, emails or other documents intended to be given to patients, potential patients or other persons”
• “All patient records and files for the persons listed in Appendix 2. Such records should include, but are not limited to, clinical records, medical reports, charge entry sheets, office notes, pre-authorization forms and documentation of care, and any “progress notes.’” The names of individuals listed in Appendix 2 are redacted in court filings.”
• “All mental health letters prepared by mental health professionals that diagnose the persons listed in Appendix 2 with Gender Dysphoria or Gender Identity Disorder.”
• “All documents referring to, describing, or relating to the scope of practice of the medical professionals described below.” The names of the medical professionals are redacted in court filings.
• “All medical records and files for any minors for whom you provided, administered or offered to provide or administer any cross-sex hormones (including testosterone or estrogen), puberty blockers or related drugs or treatments after July 1, 2023.”
• “Identify under oath all pregnant women or other persons whom you assisted in obtaining abortion pills via mail, delivery services, express company, common carrier or telemedicine that were intended to be or were actually used to terminate a pregnancy.”
• “Identify your employees, officers, or agents who are responsible for the content of your website.”

The petition asks the Chancery Court to issue a protective order that sets aside the demands entirely or modifies the attorney general’s request.

“The First Amendment requires this court to set aside the (demands),” the petition said. It also cited patient privacy.

“Its demand that (Planned Parenthood) disclose its patients’ private health information contravenes (its) legal duties, basic medical ethics, and the privacy rights of patients. The court should set it aside.”

This story may be updated.

Attorney General request for information letter