Calif. County Supervisors Consider Antiabortion Group As Replacement For Suspended Planned Parenthood Grant

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 18 Mar 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Orange County, Calif., Supervisor Bill Campbell is proposing to redirect an education grant that formerly went to Planned Parenthood to an antiabortion group called Birth Choice Health Clinics, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, Birth Choice CEO Kathleen Eaton said she founded Birth Choice about 26 years ago after being deeply affected by her decision to have an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Last week, the board voted unanimously to suspend Planned Parenthood's $291,788 education grant, which was awarded as part of a $7.5 million agreement with the Orange County Coalition of Community Clinics and funded with tobacco settlement revenue. Planned Parenthood used to provide health education to teens at local high schools and youth organizations. Most supervisors cited moral and religious reasons for opposing the contract. Eaton said she has a meeting scheduled with Campbell to discuss the possibility of taking on the county contract for health education. According to Birth Choice's Web site, the organization's "Teen Integrity" program educates teens on "the importance of building satisfying and mature relationships free from sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and heartache, by promoting abstinence until marriage." Eaton said the program is "abstinence-based" but does teach about contraception. Eaton said Birth Choice offers faith-based and non-faith-based education programs.

According to the Times, the suspended contract had been renewed annually since it was awarded in 2000. Jon Dunn, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said none of the money was used to fund abortion services. Supervisor John Moorlach, who put the contract on the supervisor's agenda last week, questioned whether sex education was the appropriate use for the funding. He noted that the measure through which the contract is funded does not specifically mention sex education (Abdollah, Los Angeles Times, 3/14).

Editorial Calls Suspension of Planned Parenthood Contract a 'Step Backward'

County supervisors "took a serious step backward this week by suspending a contract with Planned Parenthood to provide health education for girls and young women," a Los Angeles Times editorial states. The editorial notes that "[n]o one raised any objections to the contract in the eight years before" the issue was raised last week. The editorial cites comments by Mario Mainero, chief of staff for Moorlach, who said that the board doesn’t believe "'that government money should be used to talk to teens and pre-teens about birth control and abortion.'" According to the editorial, these comments are "extraordinarily out of step in a state where 89% of parents say they want comprehensive sex education for their children, according to a 2007 poll, and where the majority of abortions are publicly funded." The editorial says, "No matter how valuable the education that Planned Parenthood provides for the county, [Moorlach] doesn't like the organization because women can go to its clinics for abortions," adding that two additional supervisors "made a point of mentioning their Roman Catholic beliefs before voting. Never mind that Planned Parenthood of Orange County performs far more breast examinations than abortions."

The editorial continues that the supervisors' positions are "as hypocritical as they are reprehensible." It adds that although other clinics and hospitals in the community health coalition also provide contraception and abortion services, Planned Parenthood was "singled out." According to the editorial, the supervisors' actions are similar to Sen. David Vitter's (R-La.) effort "to strip funding for Planned Parenthood from the omnibus budget bill. His effort too was aimed solely at Planned Parenthood, which has been a target of a Christian conservative 'defunding' movement." The editorial concludes that the board is "awaiting a legal opinion before its final decision, but even without the advice of lawyers, it should know that this attack on Planned Parenthood fails every test of logic, reason and responsible public policy" (Los Angeles Times, 3/14).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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