Planned Parenthood, ECRMC agreement moves forward

By ALEJANDRO DAVILA and RICHARD MONTENEGRO BROWN

Despite ongoing opposition from religious groups, Planned Parenthood and El Centro Regional Medical Center announced Wednesday that they will be signing a key agreement for abortions to occur at a clinic set to open in the spring.

For the past few months Planned Parenthood has been building a health center on Fourth Street in El Centro. Meanwhile, they’ve been providing basic services like education outreach from an office located at the Valley Plaza.

As the agency’s plans have moved forward, so has a growing and coordinated opposition by religious and community leaders. By some estimates, about 1,500 people showed up to Tuesday night’s meeting near the hospital campus.

However, most protesters dispersed under the impression that since the transfer agreement did not appear on the meeting agenda, no action would occur.

Hospital officials said board approval was never needed; rather, hospital management informed the board in closed session that the transfer agreement was underway.

The agreement itself is mandated by California health and safety codes in the performance of surgical procedures such as abortions and live birthing.

“A transfer agreement is required for a clinic that is doing procedures such as Planned Parenthood is doing,” said Cathy Kennerson, ECRMC spokeswoman. “It’s really a safety issue for the patient.”

Such agreement ensures that patients being treated at Planned Parenthood clinics can be swiftly transferred to ECRMC emergency room along with their records if an abortion or other surgical procedures suffered complications. Transfer agreements are common between health centers.

“The state just wants to know that there is a transfer agreement in place before the clinic opens and starts doing procedures,” Kennerson said.

As procedure goes, the ECRMC board doesn’t have to approve transfer agreements, Kennerson said. Still the issue was listed on the board agenda as an information item last month.

But “the board asked us to not sign until they had more information,” Kennerson said, noting that the board was further informed on the matter during a closed session Tuesday night.

Members of the local religious community, including the forming Imperial County Coalition of Life made up of around 60 faith-based and community organizations, were unaware that any decision had been made. They learned of the transfer agreement Wednesday.

“We were shocked that action was taken behind closed doors rather than at a public hearing,” said Chris Nunn, a pastor at Christ Community Church in El Centro and one of the leaders of the voice against abortion and abortion services.

Marty Ellett, president of the Real Hope Center, a faith-based pregnancy resource center, said the next step for the coalition will be to show up en masse at El Centro City Council meetings starting next week to pressure the council to reverse what Ellett and others believe is the decision of the hospital board.

“The City Council is over the hospital board and the trustees,” Ellett said, “and they still have power and authority over them … they can rescind this decision if they want to.”

El Centro City Councilwoman Sedalia Sanders, who serves as liaison between ECRMC board and the city, clarified the relationship between the hospital board and council.

“The council has no appeal process on oversight; the decision made by the board of trustees is deemed final,” she said. “I would think if someone wants still to question that fine line. … I would encourage them to come to the council to ask that question to our city attorney.”

It isn’t clear what recourse religious leaders have at this point, but Nunn stressed that both the hospital and Planned Parenthood each have an option to void the transfer agreement with 30 days notice.

According to state law, Planned Parenthood could seek an exemption from the state to operate without an agreement so long as no live births or abortions are done at the clinic.

“What that means to me,” Nunn said, “is that we aren’t trying to chase Planned Parenthood out of our community. We’re just taking a stand and saying we don’t want abortion.”

Cita Walsh, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest vice president of communications, declined most questions on the matter Wednesday, including what types of procedures the clinic is expected to perform or the size of it.

She did note that Planned Parenthood is hiring and training staff in Imperial County, as well as undergoing inspections. The media, Walsh said, will be invited to tour the facility once the health clinic is open.

In a prepared statement she also said that Planned Parenthood is “pleased” that ECRMC will be signing the agreement “to facilitate continuity of care with the new Planned Parenthood Imperial Valley health center.”

Last month, in an Op-Ed to the Imperial Valley Press, Darrah DiGiorgio Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, wrote that “no organization does more than Planned Parenthood to prevent the need for abortion through our highly affordable and accessible contraception and education services.

“Providing safe and legal abortion is a small yet important part of what we do,” she wrote.

Nunn acknowledged that Planned Parenthood could be a valuable community partner in women’s health education, and that “we can co-exist in the community as long as they agree not to perform abortions,” he said.

The transfer agreement is expected to be signed within the next few days when ECRMC’s chief executive officer Tomas Virgen returns to sign the document.

With the opening of the new health center in El Centro, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest will have 19 health centers in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties.

Photo by Joselito Villero

This story originally appeared in the Imperial Valley Press, Feb. 26, 2015.