Expecting conflict

Last spring when 17-year-old Granite Bay High School junior Whitney Inocelda’s pregnancy test results from Planned Parenthood returned positive, her mother was the first to find out.

“I called my mother right away, and she (told me) ‘Well, you’re an adult now, so you have to figure things out,’” Inocelda said.

But this proved to be more difficult than expected –  Inocelda lived with her father and stepmother, who found out about the pregnancy by tracking her text messaging online. Their response was drastically different:“get an abortion, or get out.”

“I couldn’t (go through with an abortion) because in my heart it just didn’t feel right,” Inocelda said. “I did get pregnant and I understand that (my parents) were angry with me because that’s not what they wanted for me, but I needed them to be parents and support me because it was my choice,” Inocelda said.

“ All I can do now is be an example for (my father) and show him that I am a great parent and that I’m trying my best – I got myself into this situation, and I’m going to do the best with what I have right now.”

Inocelda moved in with her boyfriend A.J. Inocelda – the father of the child – and his family. They married in June.

“I was willing to have (unprotected) sex and get pregnant, so I’m willing to be a mother and deal with it for the rest of my life,” Inocelda said. 

Whitney gave birth to Anuhea Inocelda on Dec. 15, 2010.

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The House of Representatives voted on Feb. 18 to pass a bill that would cut federal funding from abortion-performing centers, such as Planned Parenthood.

If the bill passes through the Democratic majority Senate, and is signed by the President, it will amend one segment (Title X) of the Public Health Service Act, which provides family planning and preventative reproductive health services to low-income patients.

Planned Parenthood which was originally established by Margaret Sanger to provide contraception for poor women, uses Title X funds.

Now it provides prenatal and pediatric care; family planning, which includes contraception, pregnancy testing, cancer testing, sexually transmitted infection testing, among others; primary care, which includes breast exams, diabetes screening, physicals, and more; and child care.

The amendment excludes hospitals or those centers performing abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. This leads many to think that the bill was an attack on Planned Parenthood, one of the nation’s largest abortion services providers.

To put it in perspective locally, the Roseville Planned Parenthood Health Center served 19,545 patients in the fiscal year 2010. Of those nearly 20,000 patients served locally, 79 percent of the patients were seen for family planning. 

Despite popular belief, only a minority of these were teenagers, according to Raquel Simental, the public affairs director for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which includes 32 different health centers in Central California.

“(Most of our clients) are between the ages of 20 and 34 – so we’re talking college students and young adults who are starting out their careers, that perhaps their first job not only pays them very little but also (offers) very little (or no) health care at all,” Simental said.

“Ninety-seven percent of the services (in all 32 centers included in the Mar Monte affiliate) are preventive health care; only three percent are abortion-related,” Simental said. “We are one of the largest abortion providers – that is a fact. But that’s (also) because there are very few abortion providers.”

Granite Bay High School health teacher Kathie Sinor received her master’s degree in behavioral science and researched sex education and prevention.

She supports Planned Parenthood and recognizes the potential negative effects that cutting funds could have.

“What will happen is, ‘OK, we prohibit these women from having abortions because we’re not funding them,’ then those women are going to either end up having back-street abortions – and we’ve already seen the ugly effects of that as women died (from) infections – or they choose to have their child but don’t have a job because unemployment is so high right now, and it’s a vicious cycle,” Sinor said.

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At the Roseville Health Center, manager Lynette Worden has dealt with protestors every week for many years. They must stay on Sunrise Boulevard because the walkway directly surrounding the Planned Parenthood building is private property.

“We encounter it on a weekly basis and we’re used to it,” Worden said.

The protestors include several religious groups who rotate shifts. One group is from Adventure Christian Church in Roseville. According to church member Wayne Bigelow, their purpose is to save women from the regrets of having an abortion, and eventually reverse Roe vs. Wade.

Tom Jennings is part of the Knights of Columbus in Roseville and has protested every week on Thursday mornings for many years. His wife was infertile, and after he experienced the joy from adoption, he urges women to avoid abortion and put their children up for adoption.

“We had to go to see the psychiatrist because (my wife) was 34 years old, and (she) was so sad (because) she loves little children (but couldn’t have any.) When we finally did adopt, it was just such a miracle to see her whole countenance change – the smile came upon her face, and I knew that that baby was the reason,” Jennings said.

“The (biological) mother decided not to have an abortion, and that’s why I’m so strongly in favor of not funding Planned Parenthood – not funding people who take money and kill babies for just whim and convenience. I wish that doctors would take the Hippocratic Oath – they’re there to preserve life from the moment of conception to natural death.”

He realizes that taking away Planned Parenthood would take away free healthcare from many uninsured women. He suggests these women receive help from privately funded clinics supported by the Knights of Columbus, such as the Sacramento Life Center on North Sunrise Avenue.

“We have free healthcare, free health screening, free ultrasound – free, free, free! Anything that a woman gets in this abortion mill, she gets free (at our clinics,)” Jennings said.

“We spent over $200,000 getting (a) Life Mobile – it drives around to five different places in the Sacramento Diocese and parks there. Girls come out of school, off the sidewalk and they’re able to find out if they are pregnant, if they have any diseases, and (learn about) the alternatives (to abortions.)

“Adoptive parents are one of the alternatives, and that’s why I love alternative pregnancy centers,” Jennings said.

Supporters at the Roseville Health Center are looking to fight back on the political side of the debate.

“We’re lucky here in California that we have two pro-choice, pro-Planned Parenthood senators, so we’re trying to help out other states whose senators (including female Republicans) can waiver on this issue by holding phone banks and connecting volunteers directly to the senator’s office,” Simental said. “We’re putting our grass-roots activists to work.”  

One supporter, Ann, recognizes the political battle, but chose to take a different course of action.

“I think that when they are trying to de-fund Planned Parenthood, it’s totally political – it has nothing to do with a religious belief. Last week I said ‘enough, I’m going to do something that says this is wrong, these are lies, because it’s all political,’”  said Ann, who would not give her last name.

Despite Ann’s convictions, religion does play a role for some. Inocelda was born and raised Christian and thus does not support abortions. Even so, she is standing with Planned Parenthood.

“The (politicians) need to look at all sides,” Inocelda said. “I like Planned Parenthood. They give me free birth control; if I need information, I go there.”