Mailbag: Area clergy back Planned Parenthood

We write as leaders of faith in Orange County who profoundly care about our community. As clergy, we have a unique perspective on the lives of women, men and families. In recent years especially, we’ve seen our congregants lose their jobs — and their health insurance — making it very difficult to access and afford basic healthcare.

Planned Parenthood serves these families when they have nowhere else to turn and plays a vital role in the health care of our community. We know that if one of our congregants needs care, we can count on Planned Parenthood to provide them with quality services and compassion.

Last year Planned Parenthood provided family planning services to 70,433 women and men in Orange and San Bernardino counties. It is among the most trusted brand names in Orange County precisely because of the quality service they provide our community. Through Title X funding, signed into law by President Nixon in 1970, Planned Parenthood is able to ensure that women like the 14,607 who received breast exams at their local health centers in the past year continue to have access to life-saving preventative care. We thank God for their presence in our community.

This is why we are very disappointed with the vote taken by the U.S. House of Representatives, which strips millions of American women of access to basic preventative health care by eliminating Title X and defunding Planned Parenthood. We hope that our representatives in Washington will put basic health services and the common good above personal ideologies and remember these women, men and families when deciding on a final budget.

The Rev. Dr. Gary Barmore and the Rev. Sarah Halverson

Fairview Community Church

Costa Mesa

The Rev. Holly Reinhart-Marean

Christ Church by the Sea (United Methodist Church)

Newport Beach

The Rev. Dr. Karen Stoyanoff

Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church

The Rev. Elizabeth Griswold

Irvine United Congregational Church

Irvine

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Outraged by Hubbard’s salary

Let me see if I have this straight. I compared the salaries of the superintendents of the two largest school districts in the country to that of Newport-Mesa Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard. The New York City schools superintendent is paid $250,000 per year. Los Angeles Unified Supt.-to-be John Deasy turned down $55,000 of his offered salary and will be paid $275,000.

What makes Jeffrey Hubbard so special that he earns more than $300,000? To top it off, he is being given, not earning, this salary while being on paid administrative leave while awaiting trial on two felony indictments. There seems to be something wrong with this picture. Yes, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but he brought this dilemma on himself. He should have voluntarily gone on unpaid leave.

Jane Hilgendorf

Corona del Mar