At the February 17, 2016 meeting of the Clark County Commissioners about a dozen residents of Clark County attempted to convince the Clark County Commissioners to defund their contract with Planned Parenthood of Clark County through the Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS). However, after at times heated discussion, the commissioners declined to withdraw their support of the contract.
The county currently funds three contracts that assist parents with pregnancy and child rearing issues. These include a contract with Family and Youth Initiatives for $143,000 to provide education and resources to parents to help with pregnancy and raising a child, a contract with Planned Parenthood for $138,372.66 to provide a program to prevent pregnancy in teens, and a contract with Pregnancy Resource Clinic for $32,000 to provide services to unwed parents to assist in raising healthy children.
Greg Rice of South Charleston argued, “Planned Parenthood is not necessary because all of the medical needs of Clark County Women can be met through Obamacare and the Pregnancy Resource Clinic.”
However, according to their website, the Pregnancy Resource Center does not provide any pregnancy prevention education or birth control. They only provide resources for pregnant women after the problem pregnancy has occurred. In addition, Obamacare does not provide educational programs for pregnancy prevention.
Rice asked each of the commissioners directly if they would vote against the contract.
Commissioner David Herier replied, “No.”
Rather than answer the question directly, Commissioner John Detrick provided an information sheet to the attendees that specifies all of the contracts approved by the county to provide services to help with pregnancy and child rearing issues. In addition, Detrick said, “These programs are state and federally mandated programs.” He added, “Clark County is in the middle of a forest fire. Clark County is #1 in Ohio in teen pregnancies. Sixty-one percent of the babies born in Clark County in 2015 were born to single parents. We need a firefighting department to fight these numbers. We need to double these numbers in front of you. We need to educate people. I would vote no.”
Commissioner Richard Lohnes said, “I would vote yes. However, when this issue came up before, I investigated whether any of the funds go to abortions. The answer was no. In addition, I checked on whether the commissioners have the capacity and responsibility to audit the contracts with DJFS to ensure that no abortions are performed in Clark County. We can and we should. However, Planned Parenthood in Clark County is not performing abortions nor selling fetuses. We have confirmed to the best of our ability that Planned Parenthood is providing the services that we have asked them to do, which is to provide educational programs to prevent teen pregnancy.”
Rice resumed his argument by comparing Planned Parenthood to both the Nazis and to ISUS. He said, “In the 1920s and 1930s the Nazis ran soup kitchens and bread lines. They did good things. But, the organization was evil. Any organization that kills babies and sells body parts is an evil organization. We will all be held accountable.”
Once again, he questioned Herier if he could support such an organization. Herier responded. “I’m not going to buy into your premise; I will not answer your question.”
Rice added that babies from Montgomery County were dumped into landfills. He said, “According to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, his investigation concluded that no fetal tissue was sold by Planned Parenthood in Ohio; however, it did reveal that tissue was disposed of in landfill sites.”
The commissioners thanked Rice for his participation and concerns.
According to County Administrator Nathan Kennedy, the request for proposal for teen pregnancy education prevention is open to anyone. However, any responder must provide the services requested. They cannot just address the issue after the pregnancy has occurred.
