Victorville mayor vows to fight Planned Parenthood over plans to open new clinic
The mayor of Victorville has pledged to fight plans by Planned Parenthood to open a “reproductive health center” in his city.
Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties has begun negotiations to occupy a 10,000-square-foot building that was once the site of a Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza restaurant in Victorville.
Planned Parenthood currently operates six “clinics” in Orange County and two in San Bernardino County. Its nearest facilities to Victorville are 40 miles away in San Bernardino and 25 miles away in Upland, both of which perform abortions.
But, according to the Victorville Daily Press, Planned Parenthood officials say “there are no immediate plans to perform abortions at the Victorville location.”
“I don’t believe them for a second,” Victorville Mayor Ryan McEachron told the Daily Press. “I am 100 percent against it and I will fight it even if it costs me personally.”
McEachron, the newspaper reported, “is vowing to do everything in his power to stop the project because of Planned Parenthood’s willingness to provide that service at some of its nearly 800 health centers nationwide.”
While Planned Parenthood says it is still considering other locations in San Bernardino County, representatives of Planned Parenthood have already met with Victorville city staff members at the former Chuck E. Cheese’s site, the Daily Press reported.
Whether the mayor will be successful in his efforts to stop Planned Parenthood from coming to Victorville remains to be seen.
“The mayor may face an uphill battle, however, since his city’s code currently allows for medical offices in the area,” the Daily Press reported. “That means ‘there is no city discretion regarding the use, according to state law,’ Bill Webb, planning director for the Victorville, said in an email.”
Nonetheless, McEachron told the newspaper, he will seek at a minimum a public hearing before the city’s planning commission on Planned Parenthood’s plans.
The last abortion clinic in Victorville was operated by now-deceased abortionist Dr. Joseph Durante, who closed the Victorville location in 2004 “for lack of business.” The clinic, said the Daily Press, “drew protests over the 11 years it was open and right up until it shut down.”
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