McAllen lifts funding ban on Planned Parenthood

McALLEN — City commissioners reinstated local funding to Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, this time for a program to educate low-income women about HPV, a condition linked with cervical cancer.

The Planned Parenthood clinic in McAllen is now set to receive $15,000 to raise awareness about HPV — medically known as the human papillomavirus — half of what the group requested and part of a $2.6 million package handed out to non-profit groups citywide.

“I really commend them for accepting the advisory group’s recommendation,” said Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood for Hidalgo and Starr Counties.

“I was concerned and apprehensive because people don’t always understand our mission is prevention. We’re always overshadowed by other more controversial issues.”

Up until 2004, Planned Parenthood — a national network of clinics that treats sexually transmitted diseases and administers birth control — had received funding through McAllen’s Community Development Block Grant program to provide HIV screenings.

However, that money was instead handed to the Valley AIDS Council for a similar program, a decision that was largely seen as an affront to Planned Parenthood’s pro-choice abortion stance.

While no abortions are performed at the McAllen clinic, counselors do refer patients to doctors when they’re considering aborting their pregnancy, Gonzales said.

City Commissioner John J. Ingram was the lone vote against funding Planned Parenthood’s HPV awareness program, citing a flurry of phone calls and e-mails he received from upset citizens.

“I’ve never had so many phone calls on an issue,” Ingram said.

“I can’t in good conscience approve this.”

City Commissioner Scott Crane said he believed the complaints were from a special interest group and represented only a small segment of the community.

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James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428. For this and other local stories visit www.themonitor.com.