Anti-abortion conservatives push to block $1 million for Planned Parenthood in Fresno

Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld on Tuesday was joined by faith leaders in calling on city leaders to prevent Planned Parenthood Mar Monte from receiving $1 million in state funding.

The Fresno City Council on Thursday is scheduled to vote on whether the city will act as a “pass-through entity” for local nonprofits to receive $9.5 million in state budget funding. While Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is slated to receive $1 million, Arte Americas and Neighborhood Thrift are expected to receive substantially more, at $7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

Bredefeld was joined by John Gerardi of Central California Right to Life, Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno Bishop Joseph Brennan, Fresno State Students for Life members and Rabbi Amnon Shor of the Bet Shalom Messianic Congregation, who is running for state senate. A few dozen anti-abortion residents also attended the news conference.

The group of opponents called on the Fresno City Council to reject the resolution and for Mayor Jerry Dyer to veto it if passed. Dyer’s communications director said he intends to veto the item if it passes.

State budget

Bredefeld said Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula proposed the city as the pass-through entity for the funding.

This year’s state budget provides $200 million to expand access to reproductive healthcare services, focusing on grants to reproductive health providers to provide abortion care and reproductive health education and information. An assembly budget bill gave the money to Fresno’s Planned Parenthood Mar Monte for health center renovations.

Bredefeld last week tweeted out a copy of Arambula’s budget request, which listed what the money would be used for, including upgrading exam tables, so they are ADA compliant, body size inclusive with weight measurement and in-chair phlebotomy; upgrading ultrasound probes to improve access and efficiency, and remodeling the medical records room to provide office space to accommodate more providers.

“California will become a statewide slaughterhouse for the innocent and defenseless unborn,” Bredefeld said. “Yet hundreds of millions of dollars for murdering the unborn is not enough for Arambula and the Fresno City Council. This $1 million directly for abortions is frankly disgraceful and a complete misuse of taxpayer money that might be used for adoption services, prenatal care, and counseling services to assist with pregnancy.”

Arambula’s office declined to comment for this story.

Representatives for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte could not be reached for comment by deadline. The Bee left multiple phone messages and sent emails and text messages.

Girardi, from Right to Life, said the Fulton Street Planned Parenthood location slated to receive the funding doesn’t provide prenatal care, for which the San Joaquin Valley has great need. He questioned whether the updates listed in Arambula’s funding request would amount to $1 million.

“So we are giving $1 million to a reproductive care clinic that does not help you if you actually want to reproduce,” he said.

While Girardi claimed the clinic doesn’t provide prenatal care, the clinic’s website lists its services as the following: abortion, birth control, HIV services, men’s health care, emergency contraception including the morning-after pill, pregnancy testing and services, STD testing, treatment and vaccines, transgender hormone therapy and women’s health care.

Fresno’s Planned Parenthood Mar Monte patients are 49% Latino, and 68% of its patients live at 100% of the federal poverty level, representatives have previously told The Bee.

A July 2021 Public Policy Institute of California poll found that 71% of Central Valley residents opposed overturning Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion and was recently overturned.

Dyer veto

The Fresno resolution is sponsored by Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Luis Chavez and Esmeralda Soria. Bredefeld said he expects it will pass by a super majority, meaning Dyer’s veto efforts would be moot.

Earlier this month, Dyer wrote a letter to Arambula saying he learned of the funding allocation from Arambula’s district director in July. Dyer noted the city has no jurisdiction over health programs and services and requested the city be removed as the administrator of the Planned Parenthood funding.

“Acting in an administrative capacity for this potentially divisive issue is not in the best interest for the city of Fresno, and will likely cause division, extensive local debate among our residents and elected officials, and prove to be an unnecessary distraction from the city’s core mission,” Dyer wrote.

Council support

Arias, in a statement, thanked Arambula and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for providing for Fresno’s needs, such as essential health services, job placement for our homeless, and cultural and arts programming. He also said Planned Parenthood provides important services to the city’s underserved populations, including the uninsured, young people and women.

“I invite those who oppose the item to visit and educate themselves on all the critical services the three great local organizations provide,” Arias said. “Furthermore, I invite pro-life advocates to adopt one of the many children in our county that are in desperate need of a loving home. That simple action would save so many lives.”

Chavez also noted the services other than abortion that Planned Parenthood provides.

“Having worked in the health industry before, I know firsthand Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of health services for women, particularly for women that don’t have access to mammograms, yearly health checkups reproductive health services, and are in need of daily life-saving medications,” Chavez said.

“These dollars are badly needed to serve neighborhoods where the life expectancy is significantly lower than affluent parts of the city,” Chavez said. “Our philosophical ideologies shouldn’t determine who receives access to health services.”

Chavez said a woman’s decision to carry a child should be between her, her family, her doctor and the god to which she prays.

“No one else should deprive them of that choice,” he said.