An estimated 2,000 abortion opponents showed up Tuesday night at the El Centro City Council meeting.
They were there to lend support to religious leaders who were letting the council know about their concerns over an agreement between Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest and El Centro Regional Medical Center that would clear the way for abortion services at a Planned Parenthood clinic being built in El Centro.
Those who addressed the council object to abortion on moral grounds. They also complained about what they said was a lack of transparency around the process to approve a state-mandated transfer agreement necessary to perform abortions at the clinic and called on the City Council to step in and wrest the transfer agreement decision from the hospital board.
At the beginning of the public comment portion of the meeting, City Attorney Kris Becker addressed the crowd. She said that in 1986 the council gave up its governance of the city-owned hospital to an appointed board of trustees, adding that city ordinances do not allow for the annulment of actions by hospital staff.
Becker then announced that the City Council, emerging from closed session several minutes before the meeting started, voted to hire independent legal counsel to review its options.
For the full story: El Centro City Council Hears Public On Abortion
