Planned Parenthood Opens Bay Area Clinic With $250K in Taxpayer Funds

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 20, 2013   |   1:30PM   |   San Rafael, CA

Local pro-life advocates in the Bay Area of California are stepping up and protesting the fact that the Marin County Board of Supervisors put $250,000 in taxpayer funds behind a new Planned Parenthood clinic.

Some 35 people gathered for a protest yesterday to demonstrate their opposition to the board supporting the abortion company.

Protesters lined the sidewalk in front of the clinic at 2 H St. as Planned Parenthood staff marked their first day back in San Rafael. They had been operating in Mill Valley for nearly three years after an organizational shake-up.

In addition to demonstrating against abortion, protesters took issue with a recent Marin County Board of Supervisors’ grant to the clinic to help pay for renovations. The county grant, approved unanimously by the board, will provide $50,000 from Supervisor Susan Adams’ “community service” fund and $200,000 from other funds. Planned Parenthood spent $2.3 million to buy the clinic building and $900,000 to renovate it.

Jamie Blinn, of Tiburon, her husband Matthew Blinn and their four children helped organize the protest in front of the clinic, waving signs and garnering honks from some cars passing by. Jamie Blinn said $250,000 is a lot of money to give to what she called the nation’s largest abortion provider. She criticized Adams’ statement that the clinic will help low-income residents.

“It’s a controversial organization,” Jamie Blinn said. “There are many other ways to spend $250,000 to help low-income women, such as educational services.”

Matthew Blinn agreed.

“Why are our tax dollars going to support an organization that performs 145 abortions for every one adoption referral?” Matthew Blinn said. “I find that to be morally reprehensible and I don’t want my tax dollars to go to $250,000 grant that.”

ACTION: Contact the Board of Supervisors here.