By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) – Rod Greenfield, a resident of Visalia in central California wrote to five members of the city council asking them to refuse the permit after learning that Planned Parenthood was planning to open a new abortion clinic.

Merrilyn Brady (retired public health officer) began to mobilize supporters for the clinic. It aims to offer primary care as well as abortion services in an area of the state that is short on both.

More than 200 citizens voiced their opinion about the clinic in handwritten notes, email and phone calls. Visalia is a small city with 140,000 residents in San Joaquin Valley. Residents and others from nearby towns attended the packed meetings of the city council for over two months.

Jaime Zamora’s opponent wrote that “this proposal will bring shame upon our city” in an email sent in February.

Linda Collishaw, supporter for the expansion of health care, stated in an email that she believed “Expanding healthcare is critical”.

It is possible to see the complex and emotive politics involved in abortion even though California is liberal. The battle over Visalia’s clinic offers a glimpse into this. In the face of fierce resistance, Planned Parenthood leadership said last week that they would search for a new site within the city.

Advocates for abortion have been trying to expand their services in California, Illinois and other states where reproductive rights are well-enshrined by local laws. Meanwhile, states that are conservative like Texas, Missouri, and Florida aggressively restrict access to this procedure.

A Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks will be ruled by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court this spring. It is expected that the case will end the right to abort, or limit it severely in this case. This comes 50 years after a precedent court approved abortion rights under the famous Roe v. Wade case.

That will lead to more battles such as the one in Visalia, according Wynette Sills (director of Californians for Life), an anti-abortion group.

“Once it moves from being a federal issue and becomes a more state-by-state dynamic, I think we’ll see polarization even within California,” she said.

PARKING and PROTESTS

Visalia patients who want to terminate their pregnancy at Planned Parenthood can be referred to Fresno clinics and Bakersfield clinics one hour away.

Planned Parenthood leadership sought to grow beyond the small clinic they currently have and offer abortions in Visalia. This was according to Stacy Cross who is president of Planned Parenthood’s Nevada chapter.

One of the major shopping streets in the area, Mooney Boulevard was where Cross and a property owner applied for permission last year to open a medical centre. Cross claimed that they deliberately left Planned Parenthood out of the application in order to not provoke opposition.

However, David Paynter, a developer, discovered the plans.

In a Dec. 10 letter to the city’s planning commission, Paynter said the clinic would create parking issues for his nearby tenants, which included Hobby Lobby, Regal Cinemas, Marshalls and Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:).

He complained also that Planned Parenthood protestors would cause disruption to nearby businesses.

Paynter appealed to the city council after the plan commission had approved it. When Reuters reached him, he declined to comment further.

Tulare-Kings Right to Life discovered about the planned clinic and created a local furor. Residents were asked to express their disapproval at council meetings.

The group posted on February 2, 2019, via Facebook (NASDAQ): “We are standing against this organization”

Brady, who was a former public health official, wrote an editorial defending the clinic. Brady, a Republican who voted for Donald Trump twice, said that she was a part of the Planned Parenthood team which brought a Planned Parenthood facility to provide sexual and contraceptive health care to a community college over 20 years ago.

In an interview, she stated that “I am so angry with how conservative people, particularly the far right view this.” “If we had open access and better education around sexual health, we wouldn’t be seeing the abortion rate that we see.”

DIFFICULT ROAD

Cross and her team tried to convince the city that they would support the clinic by speaking to the council and emphasizing their goal of providing better primary and sexual care.

Cross decided that the plan wouldn’t win the support of the majority of council members, just days before the scheduled public hearing. Cross resisted the offer to buy Mooney Boulevard property.

Despite this, a passionate discussion on the topic lasted nearly two hours during last week’s meeting of the city council. Oponents pledged to resist any other locations.

Liz Wynn, a city councilwoman declined to give her vote in an interview. According to her, she expected that the city would assist the reproductive rights organisation in finding a quieter location to build a clinic.

Other council members didn’t respond to our requests for comment.

Cross stated that the city had sent her a list with potential sites, but is ready for any obstacles.

She said that California is “the most advanced state in terms of reproductive healthcare” and was the best. Visalia is one such example.