As originally published by the Fontana Herald News on Friday, August 2, 2024.
Health care? If you’re wealthy
At the city council meeting on Tuesday, July 23, Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren was clearly angry about the strong showing from Fontana citizens who support a Planned Parenthood health center in our city (70% of us are in favor, by the way). Before voting to extend a moratorium blocking the long-planned construction of a Planned Parenthood health center, she claimed that Fontana was an “epicenter of health care” in San Bernardino County, implying that anyone who opposed her was wrong for saying that we need better health care access.
Fontana may be an “epicenter” of health care for those who have insurance, but we’re facing a serious seismic shock in the future: the percentage of Fontana residents living below the federal poverty level is projected to increase by about 50% over the next decade. A large percentage of Fontanans (30.5%) are uninsured or on Medi-Cal — a higher rate than the rest of California. Many hardworking residents of our city are undocumented immigrants and do not have access to health insurance.
To Mayor Warren, I say that it must be nice to have the privilege to not worry about the exorbitant costs of healthcare in America. Meanwhile, back in reality, half of all Californians surveyed by the California Health Care Foundation have skipped some kind of necessary medical care in the past 12 months because of cost — even those with good insurance are often overwhelmed by medical bills.
Planned Parenthood provides quality health care services to anyone who walks through its doors, regardless of income, insurance or immigration status. Last year, Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties (PPOSBC), which is being blocked by Fontana, provided more than $3 million in health care services to patients who were unable to pay, and had over 260,000 medical visits. In addition to abortion care — which is a small but important part of PPOSBC’s work — services include cancer screening, birth control including IUDs and vasectomies, breast exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), pregnancy testing, sexual health education and counseling.
But by upholding the building moratorium, Fontana City Council has shown it is more interested in groveling to narrow special interests than the health of its citizens, and don’t care about the good that a Planned Parenthood health center would do in our city. If you’re as enraged by this as I am, and care about the health of our community, I encourage you to visit bansoffabortion.org and let Fontana City Council know how you feel about this decision.
- Stacey Ramos
Fontana
Pro-moratorium people aren’t even from here
Last Tuesday (June 23), at the Fontana City Council meeting where the council voted 4-1 to extend an ill-advised building moratorium on a stretch of downtown that is actively stymieing the expansion of multiple businesses, the fire marshal had to keep people from entering council chambers, because the room was at capacity. Dozens of people turned out, it seems, to voice their support for the mayor’s decision to extend a moratorium that was meant to “study” what businesses would “revitalize” our Downtown core.
These lovers of municipal development policy, carrying gruesome signs and shouting through bullhorns, used the comment period to spread lies and misinformation about Planned Parenthood, which has been illegally blocked from building a long-planned and much-needed health center on Sierra Avenue.
If you’re starting to feel a little suspicious about their motivation, like I was, your instincts are correct. A large majority of these “pro-moratorium” supporters are in fact extreme anti-abortion protestors who have been bused in from outside of the city by a controversial organization dedicated solely to harassing and bullying health care providers and patients. They are not reflective of the will of the people of Fontana — 70% of whom are in favor of a Planned Parenthood in the city.
During the comment period, Mayor Acquanetta Warren actively allowed these bullies to clap after their side spoke and chastised Planned Parenthood supporters for doing the same. One speaker astutely noted about the pro-moratorium speakers: “They aren’t even from here.”
The mayor had clearly made up her mind before the vote, and her hypocritical display only proved further that she and most of the Fontana City Council don’t care about the needs of the people of Fontana. Instead, they care more about their own personal agenda, which clearly involves staying on the side of extreme, hateful organizations that ship people in to protest at a council meeting for a city they don’t live in or care about.
Let Mayor Warren and the city council know how you feel about this hypocrisy at bansoffabortion.org.
- Sandra Ayala
Fontana
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