At today’s Board of Supervisors meeting Supervisor Janet Nguyen will present a Resolution recognizing Public Health Week which started yesterday, April 6th. At the same meeting, Jennifer Muir reports in the Orange County Register on the Healthy Living Blog that:
Planned Parenthood supporters plan to submit petitions to Orange County Supervisors on Tuesday urging them to change their minds about suspending a sex-ed grant to the nonprofit that they canceled over abortion concerns.
In a meeting last month the Board at Supervisor Moorlach’s urging suspended the $291,788 sub-contract portion of a grant to the Orange County Coalition of Community Clinics funding health education outreach covering reproductive health education for teens and pre-teens, that includes discussion of birthcontrol, abstinence and sexually transmitted disease. The grant funds received by Planned Parenthood in no way funded abortion services. In fact, the same exact services and referrals are provided under a similar contract with Orange County Rescue Mission (a faith-based organization).
Unfortunately, facts played little role in the political decision they made based solely on the position promoted by Supervisor Bill Campbell that he would “never support funding of an organization that provides abortion services.”
The problem with “Moral Absolutes”is that no other conditions or clarifications can be applied. It’s pretty much an all or nothing proposition. If your stated position is that you will not award grant funds to an organization any organization that provides abortion services, you cannot then selectively apply that standard to just one organization.
The County funds almost all hospitals in Orange County for a variety of medical services to the tune of almost $60 million. Most of those hospitals perform abortion services. The Editors at TheLiberalOC wonder then, does the Board intend to recognize Public Health Week today, and then gut all health education services in the future?
Based upon comments reportedly made to the Register by Supervisor John Moorlach’s Chief of Staff Mario Mainero, it seems there is a brewing all out war on health education in the works.
Muir reports: Moorlach’s chief of staff Mario Mainero said his office plans to create a new policy for granting TSR money before the board considers next year’s grants that will require the money be spent on “direct clinical care†and not on health education.
There is a reason for the separation of Church and State in government decisions. This is one of those cases when the need for separation is clearly demonstrated.
Read the rest of Muir’s post here.