County Votes to Support Planned Parenthood Against GOP Proposal to Defund It

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to express its support for Planned Parenthood.

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis recommended sending a letter to the county's Congressional delegation laying out the board's commitment to women's rights and support for preserving funding for Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and Planned Parenthood San Gabriel Valley serve more than 180,000 patients at their 23 health centers countywide, according to the supervisors' motion.

Many of those who rely on the health agency are among the county's most vulnerable residents and would lose access to vital services -- including cancer screenings and diabetes testing, as well as birth control, sex education, prenatal care and tests for sexually transmitted diseases -- if the nonprofit organization were defunded, the supervisors said.

"We believe that any attack on Planned Parenthood threatens to destabilize L.A.'s safety net," said Cynthia Carmona of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, will include a provision to defund Planned Parenthood and prohibit its participation in Medicaid.

"We're not immune to what goes on in Washington, D.C.," Celinda Vazquez of PPLA told the board. "It's a mean-spirited and misguided attempt by Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and prevent millions of women from getting preventative and reproductive healthcare from a provider they know and trust."

PPLA estimates that state affiliates that serve about 1 million women could lose up to $260 million in funding.

The opposition to Planned Parenthood comes largely from individuals and groups who are anti-abortion.

Planned Parenthood estimates that abortions account for only 3 percent of its services nationwide, though fact checkers, including The Washington Post, have said that number is misleadingly low as it equally weights all services, including blood tests or pregnancy tests.

As many women receive multiple services, a better measure might be the percentage of patients receiving abortions.

That number is not disclosed by Planned Parenthood and cannot be accurately estimated, according to The Post.

By ELIZABETH MARCELLINO, City News Service; Photo by Neon Tommy via flickr.com