You know the most interesting thing I found concerning the case that Planned Parenthood was making about coming to Fitchburg was the “need” argument.
According to Planned Parenthood’s testimony the teen pregnancy rate is 49 per 1000 in the State of Massachusetts.
Also according to that testimony the teen pregnancy rate in Fitchburg is 17.1 per 1000
That is over 65% below the state avg.
Let’s put that in perspective: We will make the rash assumption that the books are not being cooked and the federal unemployment rate is 9.7%.
If Massachusetts’ unemployment rate to the Federal government’s had the same ratio as Fitchburg’s teen pregnancy rate does to the state of Massachusetts, the state unemployment rate would be below 3.39%.
That leads to some interesting common sense questions:
1. If my business was to address unemployment would I operate in an area with 3.39% unemployment or an area with 9.7% unemployment?
2. If I was giving out a government grant to address a problem such as unemployment would I give a grant to operate in a city with a 3.39% unemployment rate when the national avg is 9.7%?
3. If my business was dependent on a government grant showing a need for my services (say unemployment), and the place where I was opening had an unemployment rate 65% below the state avg. Would it be in my interest for the unemployment rate remain 65% below the state avg or would it be in my interest for that rate to rise to “demonstrate” the need for my services.
After a brief recess and regular City Council meeting began. Under the rules of the City council any person can speak for up to 2 minutes on a measure.
The first speaker was Representative DiNatale who re-iterated the argument concerning both redundant services and how well Fitchburg had done without them.
At this point the officials from Planned Parenthood had already left so now a plethora of pro life speakers came to the fore.
The first was Dr. Mark Rollo:
Doctor Rollo was forceful and direct. When describing planned parenthood he bluntly declared “Their mission is killing!” He further argued that they separating children from their parents advice and fear, instead of discouraging teenage pregnancy propagates it. He declared unequivocally that if Planned Parenthood opens on main street protesters will follow and he will be leading them.
Several citizens people yielded their time to both Doctor Rollo and some of those who followed. Their second big gun was Dr. Mildred Jefferson.
With a quiet and calm demeanor she made the case that Fitchburg would be a less pleasant place with Planned parenthood. Her best argument however was the description of Planned Parenthood in terms of practices and their use of organizations that they fund to support their positions as if they were independent.
The third big gun was developer Roderick P. Murphy from the group problem pregnancy. His argument was that planned parenthood would retard development in Fitchburg, both he and Dr. Jefferson had the disadvantage of making the case as non residents.
After this several citizens came up with various arguments primarily concerning the wrongness of abortion, the origins of planned parenthood and how all of this makes Fitchburg a less desirable place to live. Unfortunately a lot of the presentations were, in my opinion and judging from the reactions of counselors, less than effective. One particular example being Kylie Gordon a 19 year old girl who was passionate in her attacks on planned parenthood but disorganized in her presentation.
Two speakers spoke up for planned parenthood. A teacher from Fitchburg state suggested than their presence might help in terms of counseling for college students in weak or potentially harmful relationships reflecting on the Allison Myrick case, it was a point that hadn’t been considered. A Worcester Fitchburg podcaster (Chris’ site is here). came up next vowing that he and members of his group ( Greater Worcester Humanists) would be escorting clients in through any protests held.
Christine Hanley of Mass. Citizens for Life made the final “official” case. Her presentation while strong factually was more about the general faults of Planned Parenthood and less about why they are a bad fit for Fitchburg.
The final speaker was, well me. After Ms Hanley spoke I approached the chair removing my “blogging” hat to speak as a lifelong Fitchburg resident. I pointed out that Ms Luby of Planned Parenthood didn’t deny the question of chemical abortion. I pointed out that City Solicitor, Michael Ciota argument concerning constitutionally of zoning ordinances didn’t hold water as Leominster had enacted such ordinances almost 30 years ago and was unchallenged (explaining why Fitchburg has been the magnet of social services rather than Leominster). I argued that the reason Planned Parenthood wanted main street was to access students of Arthur J. Longsjo middle school . I referenced the both the Washington Postabstinence story and the argument of my own post concerning pill resales. I’ll let others decide how effective I was, but when I was done Counselor Marcus DiNatale questioned the solicitor concerning Leominster’s laws, and Mr. Costa plead ignorance of them.
For a brief time other business came up and the Mayor briefly turned up for that but she was not to be seen when when the Rosemary Reynolds brought up her two zoning resolutions. As they were late resolutions a vote to suspend the rules would be necessary for them to be considered. That vote failed 10-1 thus they have been added to the agenda of the next meeting on the 16th.
And so around 11:00 p.m. things finally closed. It’s fair to say that Planned Parenthood had won the argument this day as the Germans did at Kasserine but the final result of the campaign remains to be seen.
Update: Per Chris’ comment I corrected his location and added a link to his group both in his comment and on this page.
The city counselors seemed very nervous before the meeting particularly with an overflow crowd that reached down the entire hallway, but nobody seemed more nervous than the counselors who had supported the initial petition. That was a bad sign.
Once things were gaveled open the first speaker was the City Solicitor, Michael Ciota. A legal opinion on the various resolutions had been asked of him. He maintained that any resolution disapproving planned parenthood or any attempt to zone them out of main street was unconstitutional. When he spoke it became very clear that not only was the fix in, but that he had talked to the counselors before the meeting and put the fear of God litigation into them.
With the exception of Rosemary Reynolds nobody challenged said opinion, in fact as she pressed him on his basis counsel president Hay restrained the questions. Planned Parenthood with the wind now behind them was invited to make their presentation:
Ms Dianne Luby (right) made her case, detailing the government grant that they obtained and why Planned Parenthood demographic studies suggested that their services would be useful for Fitchburg. There is no question that this woman was well practiced for such an event and was ready for whatever the counsel was prepared to ask.
After her presentation the questions began with Ward 4 Counselor Kevin Starr
Starr’s questions were primarily concerning the location. Specifically why not use the open space at the Burbank Campus (formally Burbank Hospital) rather than downtown Fitchburg? The question was asked by several counselors and was ducked effectively with “That is not our Model”. (nobody asked about the Model or why “their model” should be the city’s model.
When asked why Fitchburg, a city that had notable success in dropping it’s teen pregnancy rate with a high school using an abstinence model. they continued to stressed demographics and a desire to be “part of the solution”
Counselor Tran stressed the proximity of Worcester in his argument against PP but underestimated the driving time to the (accurate) hoots of local PP supporters. The most amazing statement came from Counselor Kaddy suggesting that PP would attract “Bad” people to main street. PP suggested that their customers were the families of the people in the room and that PP would attract foot traffic to Main Street. When Counselor Joseph challenged it saying that a Methadone clinic would also attract foot traffic she parried it effortlessly and without challenge.
The majority of the arguments made was “Why Fitchburg” and “Why main Street” but Rosemary Reynolds pressed them concerning what would take place on main street. Luby stressed that no surgical abortions would take place and the federal grant prevented them from doing them. Reynolds pressed her about the length of the grant and what happens then, Luby answered that they would re-apply for the grant. Reynolds then asked about chemical abortions but could not remember the name of the abortion pill. (Ru486)
Luby incredibly maintained she had no idea what Reynolds was talking about. (perhaps the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts should consult PP’s own web site.) When Ms. Reynolds asked permission to consult Dr. Mark Rollo (sitting behind her) for the exact name, Mr. Hay disallowed it and the question concerning chemical abortions remained unanswered.
Much to the surprise of the assembled audience no other people were allowed to speak. (They were unaware that the counsel was meeting as a “committee of the whole”) and when the vote to table the resolution disapproving planned parenthood the vote was 8-1 with only Counselor Reynolds voting against, counselors Tran and Conry abstaining.
At this point the bulk of the Planned Parenthood supporters their victory supposedly won, and a large amount of the people waiting outside who opposed them began to leave not realizing that there was a lot more to come.
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