Missouri Gov. Greitens signed law subjecting abortion clinics alone to annual unannounced inspections that other surgical centers escape
On July 26, 2017, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed SB 5 into law, reclassifying the state's abortion facilities into a separate regulatory category and mandating annual, unannounced state inspections -- a schedule the roughly 120 other ambulatory surgical centers in Missouri do not face, which are instead inspected every three to four years. The law, sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Koenig, passed the Missouri General Assembly 22-9 in a summer special session and also gave the state attorney general authority to override local prosecutors on abortion cases.