Vote to add Planned Parenthood clinic to high school postponed by school board

LOS ANGELES (TND) — A California school board decided to postpone a vote on whether to institute an on-campus Planned Parenthood clinic at one of its schools.

Protesters gathered outside the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District board meeting Monday night as the proposal to allow the clinic at John Glenn High School was scheduled for a vote.

However, the school board decided to postpone the vote.

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Board of Education will postpone discussion of Board Agenda Item #12a regarding the Planned Parenthood clinic at John Glenn High School. As a result, action will not be taken this evening during the regularly scheduled Board Meeting. The Board of Education and Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District has no further comment at this time,” the district said in a news release.

The school board was expected to vote on whether to approve a five-year contract with Planned Parenthood, which would have needed renewal authorization every five years, according to the proposal that was supposed to be voted on Monday night.

Abortions and “gender-affirming care” were not listed in the proposal as services that would have been provided at the on-campus clinic, but the proposal said clinic staff would be able to refer students to other Planned Parenthood locations that can provide those services.

Regarding parental consent, the proposal indicated the school district was aware that, under California law, minors have the right to consent to reproductive health services without parental notification or consent. Therefore, while the clinic would encourage students to communicate with their parents, it won’t deny services just because someone is under 18 years of age.

In 2019, Planned Parenthood announced an initiative to open 50 “Wellbeing Centers” across Los Angeles-area high schools. The program got off the ground with a $10 million dollar investment from Los Angeles County and $6 million from Planned Parenthood, according to The Washington Post.

At the time of the announcement in 2019, five high schools already had such Planned Parenthood clinics on their campuses.

The fact that the contract specifically notes that ‘under California law minors have the right to consent to reproductive health services without parental consent or notification’ is appalling in and of itself,” said Nicole Neily, the president and founder of Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit that says it empowers parents to advocate for how their children are taught in schools.

The National Desk (TND) reached out to the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District’s board members, as well as Superintendent John Lopez, but neither wished to comment and indicated they will not be granting any interview requests on the matter.