Imperial County Remains Divided Over Planned Parenthood Clinic

This is KPBS Midday Edition. I Maureen Cavanaugh. California is one of the most liberal states when it comes to access to birth control and abortion. But you would not know it in Imperial County where religious groups tried unsuccessfully to prevent the regions first Planned Parenthood clinic from opening last year. Kenny bow -- Goldberg recently that is -- visited the clinic and gave this update. Every other Monday morning in El Centro there are two things you can count on. The plant parenthood clinic will open at 7:30 and protesters will be on the scene. Jesus borrows hangs out in the parking lot next to the clinic and tries to talk to women who are heading into have abortions Good morning. Good morning. Sometimes borrows has to settle to speaking to husbands or boyfriends either way he doesn't want to hear about a woman's right to choose. There is another side of the story. What about the baby? Who is speaking up for the baby? Do you think the baby wants to live? The way Paros see that women just are not properly educated. It all starts with education. We need to teach what sex really is. Planned Parenthood will promote sex because there is no money promoting to have no sex. There is no money in that. The money is contraceptives. If you're pregnant there is always abortion. Which is a big money. That is where they really make the money. Clinic manager Vivian parents could says thatuse a little education himself. All of its services including abortions and birth control are provided whether the patient has any money or not. Perez says she respects protesters opinions but, if they were really concerned about reducing unwanted pregnancies they would help us provide special education. Our focus is not on the protesters but more of the safety and security of our patients. Planned Parenthood opened in May Planned Parenthood opened in May 2015 but it was not exactly welcome with open arms. The Imperial Valley's evangelical community led the opposition to the plan parenthood clinic last year and they remain staunchly opposed to it but there is one religious leader in town that has a different view. This is the sanctuary. And we really try to make a sanctuary -- a safe place. Reverend. Ron Griffin is the lead pastor at El Centro's first Methodist Church. Griffin says he understands why most of the religious community opposes the clinic that he says demonizing women who have abortions or use birth control is mean spirited and counterproductive. Those sites have important things to say so let's address it that way rather than creating this false idea that it is us versus them. What your fellow religious leaders say about that testament they don't really talk to me very much. The protests and opposition are not stopping Planned Parenthood and they have not prevented more than 2000 people from for coming in for care. Community college student you Linda Garcia gets her birth control pills at the clinic. She remembers one recent visit when a protester got right in her face. This lady came up to me with a big poster of the Virgin Mary and said you need help? I can help you. I felt judged like she thought I was getting an abortion when in reality I was just getting a regular checkup. I told her no I was okay. And she just kept insisting to help me. Clinic manager Perez just shrugs her shoulder. When you get down to it all Planned Parenthood is doing is dividing access to care. No religion, no politics, just healthcare. Joining me now is Kenny Goldberg. Hello candy. Hello Maureen. Can you remind us how intense the debate was against the planned parenthood clinic in Imperial County? It was very intense. The opposition was primarily made up of the evangelical Christian community in Imperial County which is very well organized and very prominent and they first tried to prevent the main hospital there from signing a transfer agreement with the Planned Parenthood credit -- clinic. Transfer agreement are very perfunctory. They are set up between medical clinics and hospitals that allow the clinic if a patient has complications to transfer the patient in the medical records to a hospital and they first tried to prevent the hospital from signing such agreement. The hospital found it had no legal grounds to do so, so after that, the evangelical Christian community tried another tactic which was to try to get the clinic designated as an outpatient surgery center which would have meant that the clinic would have had to do massive upgrades and extensive refitting and all that kind of thing and Planned Parenthood sued at that point and that was the linchpin to making the whole thing open and Planned Parenthood finally opened last spring. Now access to clinic that perform abortions is becoming a problem in white areas of the United States. Is that also the case in Imperial County? It is the case. Planned Parenthood is the first reproductive health clinic in Imperial County. It is the only clinic that provides abortions in a pretty wide area which includes all the way out to the Arizona border and of course in Mexicali in northern Mexico. Also there is a dearth of opportunities for people to get contraceptives and other things from other clinics because there is just a limited number of medical providers in the area. Now in your report, Kenny, you introduced us to Raven Ron Griffin. He is supporting Planned Parenthood. It sounds as if he is one of the loan clerical figures in that area that actually is giving any support to Planned Parenthood. That is right. And in the middle of the controversy last year before the clinic opened, he wrote a couple of editorials in the local paper saying that, hey everybody, let's calm down a little bit and see if we can find some common ground. When we spoke to him a couple weeks ago he said exactly that. He said, look both sides proponents have bad days have valid points. Let's talk about things instead of demonizing the other side. Instead of separating it into us and them. It is completely counterproductive and he was advocating for that position then and he still is now and he also told me that none of the other religious leaders really talk to him very much. Now it seems that in spite of the continuing protests and as you told us in your report, those protest do continue about every day, the plan parenthood clinic in Imperial County -- is it doing well? Well they serve more than 2000 people since the clinic opened last May a year ago last May that is. And that seems to be a fairly good volume considering the fact when you think about it, that there was no place a lot of these people could go to get care what you have to understand in Imperial County -- it is a very small community and everybody knows everybody and I am told that one of the sensitivities there is -- is 70 goes in for reproductive health care, they would don't want somebody's neighbors seeing them to tell their mother who tell somebody else so it is sort of a very small community and they like the anonymity and the wide array of services that Planned Parenthood office -- offers. Kenny, thank you. Thank you.