The O.C. Board of Supervisors has been such an overwhelmingly disastrous body this year that it should not come as a surprise that “Next Tuesday, John Moorlach, Orange County Supervisor District 2, will bring an agenda item to the Board of Supervisors meeting that could drastically inhibit our ability to serve the community,” according to an email I received from Planned Parenthood.
Moorlach “plans to single out Planned Parenthood by withholding more than $290,000 in health education funding. Services provided through the Health Education Program empower teens and young adults throughout our community to make informed, healthy, and responsible decisions about their health, and ultimately to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancies, STIs, and tobacco use in Orange County.”
As usual, Moorlach is once again ignoring contractual obligations. “Any attempt by the supervisors to change the contract represents a breach of contract and an abuse of power on their behalf. At a time when people are losing their jobs and their insurance coverage, Supervisor Moorlach wants to take hundreds of thousands of dollars away from primary health care resources.”
Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released staggering results from a new report (March 2007) that at least 1 in 4 teenage girls in the United States has a sexually transmitted infection. That more than three million teenage girls have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) underscores what Planned Parenthood has known for years: teenagers need to know how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.
Locally, rates of teen pregnancy and STIs remain high among Orange County youth. While teen birth rates are declining nationally, areas within Orange County continue to report rates as much as three times higher than the state’s rate.
Young people are also disproportionately affected by STIs. In 2004, people ages 15 to 24 in Orange County accounted for 62% and 43% of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea cases, respectively. Orange County also ranks among the top ten in AIDS cases and in the top five in HIV cases in California. Nationally, nearly half of all new AIDS cases are discovered in those under 25 years old.
Moorlach and company are okay with blowing public money on unneeded remodeling and furniture and they all get free gas and huge car allowances. They voted down restaurant health ratings this year and now Moorlach is showing that public health in general doesn’t matter to him. I can only hope that it matters to the rest of our lame Supervisors.
Click here to find contact information for our O.C. Supervisors.
UPDATE:
As one would expect, Red County blog editor Matt/Jerbal Cunningham is backing Moorlach’s attack. Apparently they want to take this money away from Planned Parenthood just to spite them.
Bear in mind the fact that OC Assistant CEO Rob Richardson was attacked by Planned Parenthood last year when he ran for the SAUSD School Board. This sure smells like retribution!
And OC manager Carlos Bustamante was ticked when Planned Parenthood endorsed me against him for the Santa Ana City Council.
Again, this sure looks like vindictive B.S. to me. Moorlach doesn’t care if he hurts teens. He just wants to screw a political enemy. What an ass!
Art, sometimes the devil’s in the details. I’m sure your facts are correct regarding the magnitude of sex-related teen health problems, but is Planned Parenthood’s education efforts tor teenagers effective? I don’t believe they do any work with the schools where most effective education (as well as a lot of ineffective) takes place.
That’s the problem with all the “cutting taxes” stuff.
Everybody wants to have lower taxes, but they forget that this results in having useful projects cut. You can’t have one without the other.
That the BoS has other issues like the remodeling, doesn’t change the fact that for things like the health program to survive, tax revenue is needed, even if that means raising taxes.
#1,
This is not about raising taxes. It is about spending money wisely.
Supervisor Janet Nguyen just handed Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido almost $200K to build a clay tennis court. Is that a good expenditure of money?
I would posit that spending the money on teen health education is a lot better than blowing it on a fancy tennis court for Papi Pulido…
A lot, lot of public funds get blown in ineffective ways, as a result of a lot of clever people concocting clever ways to siphon off their portion of the public finance money stream. The devil’s in the details. But, that’s what the Orange Juice is all about, exposing the devils, huh Art?
SAHS teacher; Not all teenagers are in school, for those who have dropped out (or have other issues), Planned Parenthood is a great resource. I would think that EVERYONE who opposes abortion would be OUTRAGED by this move. That is, of course, if your goal is to reduce the number of abortions and not just to PUNISH teens for having sex.
What I see here are people advocating giving more taxpayer’s money to Planned Parenthood so that it will be easier for teenagers to engage in sexual activity. No wonder Orange County has turned into another moral sewer. Go get ’em Moorlach. Ignore the liberal loons!
John,
Did you learn nothing when Sarah Palin’s daughter was knocked up? Abstinence doesn’t work! The fact is they are already having sex. Planned Parenthood wants to make sure they aren’t catching STDs or getting preggers in the process. What’s wrong with that?
I have a hunch the cut to funding of this organization will result in those funds being allocatd to other health clinics and there will not be a net reduction in the amount of taxpayer dollars going to this purpose. Isn’t it just about carving out one of many providers, and giving the rest of them that share of the money? I had thought Planned Parenthood was a non-profit, but if they are endorsing political candidates they must not be (?)
Art, I learned that Sarah Palin’s daughter didn’t say “No”. So now taxpayers are going to be forced to give money to Planned Parenthood? And kids are going to be forced to take Planned Parenthood’s “how to do it” plus variations Sex Education Course? Because Sarah Palin’s daughter didn’t say “No”? I’m surprised that you would be in favor of forcing taxpayers and kids to conform to the mandates of Planned Parenthood.