California: Orange County Restores Sex Education Funding

On Tuesday, Orange County's Board of Supervisors reinstated funding to Planned Parenthood to provide sex education, reversing the board's unanimous March vote to defund the group. At the time, supervisors cited Planned Parenthood's provision of legal abortion as a reason to pull the contract. The advice of the county's legal counsel led supervisors to vote to reinstate the nearly $300,000 grant, which was derived from tobacco settlement revenue.

After the latest vote, the board unanimously voted that the county Health Care Agency (HCA) adopt policies to restrict future tobacco settlement funds for use in providing direct health care services instead of health education. In addition, the board stipulated that such services cannot be provided in the same location where abortions are performed. While targeting family planning classes, the rules could be broad enough to affect health classes, pamphlets, group education programs, and translation services.

"Health education certainly is an important service, but with the limited amount of funding available," the revenue should be directed to clinic care, said David Riley, interim director of HCA. Riley recommended the new policies in light of significant unmet needs for primary medical, dental, and mental health care among the uninsured.

In the coming year, Orange County will distribute almost $37 million in tobacco settlement revenue to numerous service providers, according to staff reports. Less than 10 percent of the $7 million annually spent on community clinics goes to health education programs, Riley said.

Back to other news for April 2009