Planned Parenthood kicks off construction of new Claiborne Avenue health clinic
(Gallery by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
Under fire from anti-abortion protesters this week and targeted by members of the state Legislature, Planned Parenthood supporters remained resolute Wednesday that they will build a 7,000 square-foot health clinic on South Claiborne Avenue "no matter what."
"No matter what outrageous things they say about Planned Parenthood, and we have heard some doozies lately, haven't we?" said Melaney Linton, Planned Parenthood president and CEO for the Gulf Coast region, her voice rising. "Planned Parenthood will be here for the women and families who need us. And women in Louisiana desperately need Planned Parenthood."
The $4.2 million project has become a flashpoint in the abortion debate as the first Planned Parenthood clinic in Louisiana that will offer the procedure.
The state Legislature passed resolutions earlier this week meant to thwart the project's progress, and anti-abortion activists held a large rally Monday -- an event in stark contrast to Wednesday's ceremony to kick off the clinic's construction.
Just a handful of protesters stood along the Jefferson Avenue neutral ground as Planned Parenthood staff and supporters wrapped up their speeches inside the First Unitarian Universalist Church. But more than 500 had gathered along Claiborne on Monday to excoriate the project, according to a description of the event by The Advocate.
Speaker after speaker Wednesday, including several clergy members, tried to trumpet Planned Parenthood's thick portfolio of health services beyond terminating pregnancies. They said the new clinic would provide health care for low-income expectant mothers and sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as screening for cervical and breast cancer. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Julie Mickleberry would not say what portion of the organization's workload is performing abortions, saying only that 97 percent of its services are dedicated to primary care, education and preventive medicine.
Sounding affronted by what he described as "misinformation and sometimes downright malevolent voices which encourage community hysteria," Rabbi Edward Cohn chastised the clinic's detractors, including Archbishop Gregory Aymond, although Cohn only alluded to him and did not name him. Aymond spoke against the clinic at Monday's rally, calling abortion a violent act.
"No one has a monopoly on truth, especially in a free society in the 21th century," Cohn said. "No one. No church, no synagogue, no mosque. No archbishop, no rabbi, no imam bespeaks the official faith of the United States of America."
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell was the only elected official to speak at the event. Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell was on the list of speakers but was unable to attend, Planned Parenthood state director Melissa Flournoy said, adding later that Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond and state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson had sent representatives.
Tia Vice, an aide to Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, read a statement on her behalf: "This new facility will give women and their families access to the resources needed to better care for themselves and to plan for their future. With that access, these healthy women and their families will provide the foundation needed to sustain our communities for years to come."
Officials supporting Planned Parenthood are in a stark minority in Louisiana, where lawmakers passed resolutions in both the House and the Senate this week aimed at the new clinic, calling for scrutiny of the group's finances and vigilance to uncover infractions of state law.
Planned Parenthood has raised $3.3 million in donations for the Claiborne project, including $800,000 in the past 90 days, said Pamela Steeg, a member of its fundraising committee. The clinic is expected to open in late 2014 or early 2015.
According to the most recent data available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011 ranked Louisiana first in the nation for syphilis and gonorrhea infections, and third for chlamydia. The state was also fourth in the country for AIDS cases in 2010. The greater New Orleans area ranked fifth among large metropolitan areas for its rate of AIDS. Baton Rouge was first.
Cantrell, whose district includes the proposed clinic's site, focused on the prevalence of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases throughout Louisiana, noting that those health problems disproportionately fall upon African-American women.
"We're in crisis in this city as it relates to this as well," said Cantrell, who is black. "And so I have no doubt that standing with Planned Parenthood will address the disparities that we know exist within our city and provide women as well as men and our young adults with affordable, accessible and quality health care that we know is needed."
More than 50 percent of all pregnancies in Louisiana are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy analysis firm that focuses on sexual and reproductive health issues and supports abortion rights.
The clinic would also provide access to contraception, which Dr. Julie Finger, a pediatrician who works at a clinic for homeless youths at the edge of the French Quarter, said has been shown to reduce abortion rates.
"These legislators that are trying to block the building of the new Planned Parenthood facility, if their sole interest is to decrease abortions in Louisiana, then preventing Planned Parenthood is not the avenue to do so," she said. "If you want to get rid of abortion in Louisiana, they should put a Planned Parenthood on every street corner."
"No matter what outrageous things they say about Planned Parenthood, and we have heard some doozies lately, haven't we?" said Melaney Linton, Planned Parenthood president and CEO for the Gulf Coast region, her voice rising. "Planned Parenthood will be here for the women and families who need us. And women in Louisiana desperately need Planned Parenthood."
The $4.2 million project has become a flashpoint in the abortion debate as the first Planned Parenthood clinic in Louisiana that will offer the procedure.
The state Legislature passed resolutions earlier this week meant to thwart the project's progress, and anti-abortion activists held a large rally Monday -- an event in stark contrast to Wednesday's ceremony to kick off the clinic's construction.
Just a handful of protesters stood along the Jefferson Avenue neutral ground as Planned Parenthood staff and supporters wrapped up their speeches inside the First Unitarian Universalist Church. But more than 500 had gathered along Claiborne on Monday to excoriate the project, according to a description of the event by The Advocate.
Speaker after speaker Wednesday, including several clergy members, tried to trumpet Planned Parenthood's thick portfolio of health services beyond terminating pregnancies. They said the new clinic would provide health care for low-income expectant mothers and sufferers of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as screening for cervical and breast cancer. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Julie Mickleberry would not say what portion of the organization's workload is performing abortions, saying only that 97 percent of its services are dedicated to primary care, education and preventive medicine.
Sounding affronted by what he described as "misinformation and sometimes downright malevolent voices which encourage community hysteria," Rabbi Edward Cohn chastised the clinic's detractors, including Archbishop Gregory Aymond, although Cohn only alluded to him and did not name him. Aymond spoke against the clinic at Monday's rally, calling abortion a violent act.
"No one has a monopoly on truth, especially in a free society in the 21th century," Cohn said. "No one. No church, no synagogue, no mosque. No archbishop, no rabbi, no imam bespeaks the official faith of the United States of America."
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell was the only elected official to speak at the event. Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell was on the list of speakers but was unable to attend, Planned Parenthood state director Melissa Flournoy said, adding later that Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond and state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson had sent representatives.
Tia Vice, an aide to Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, read a statement on her behalf: "This new facility will give women and their families access to the resources needed to better care for themselves and to plan for their future. With that access, these healthy women and their families will provide the foundation needed to sustain our communities for years to come."
Officials supporting Planned Parenthood are in a stark minority in Louisiana, where lawmakers passed resolutions in both the House and the Senate this week aimed at the new clinic, calling for scrutiny of the group's finances and vigilance to uncover infractions of state law.
Planned Parenthood has raised $3.3 million in donations for the Claiborne project, including $800,000 in the past 90 days, said Pamela Steeg, a member of its fundraising committee. The clinic is expected to open in late 2014 or early 2015.
According to the most recent data available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011 ranked Louisiana first in the nation for syphilis and gonorrhea infections, and third for chlamydia. The state was also fourth in the country for AIDS cases in 2010. The greater New Orleans area ranked fifth among large metropolitan areas for its rate of AIDS. Baton Rouge was first.
Cantrell, whose district includes the proposed clinic's site, focused on the prevalence of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases throughout Louisiana, noting that those health problems disproportionately fall upon African-American women.
"We're in crisis in this city as it relates to this as well," said Cantrell, who is black. "And so I have no doubt that standing with Planned Parenthood will address the disparities that we know exist within our city and provide women as well as men and our young adults with affordable, accessible and quality health care that we know is needed."
More than 50 percent of all pregnancies in Louisiana are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy analysis firm that focuses on sexual and reproductive health issues and supports abortion rights.
The clinic would also provide access to contraception, which Dr. Julie Finger, a pediatrician who works at a clinic for homeless youths at the edge of the French Quarter, said has been shown to reduce abortion rates.
"These legislators that are trying to block the building of the new Planned Parenthood facility, if their sole interest is to decrease abortions in Louisiana, then preventing Planned Parenthood is not the avenue to do so," she said. "If you want to get rid of abortion in Louisiana, they should put a Planned Parenthood on every street corner."
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