Good news for all of Portland. From The Oregonian website:
The City of Portland gave its OK on Wednesday for Planned Parenthood to relocate its regional headquarters on a city-owned lot along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, sided with supporters who say the neighborhood needs Planned Parenthood's sex education programs, 140 jobs and high-end building on a boulevard that's still lined with vacant lots and chain link fences.
But the commission overruled emotional opponents - who range from nearby African American church leaders to white suburbanites - who had moral and religious objections to Planned Parenthood's plan to provide abortions on MLK.
I was able to testify at the hearing. Sitting with me were The Rev. Lynne Smouse López and The Rev. Cecil Prescod, both of Ainsworth United Church of Christ in Northeast Portland. They also offered words of support for Planned Parenthood.
The Rev. W.G. Hardy, pastor of Highland Christian Center (United Church of Christ), helped to led opposition to Planned Parenthood.
Most of the testimony was tense. Oregon Right to Life claimed that Planned Parenthood had a secret plan to exterminate all African Americans.
Carolyn Wendell from Voice of Catholics Advocating Life said of Planned Parenthood: "They are rich white people who say that they love the blacks, who give them the name of a street and then kill their children. I don't think that's appropriate, so I'm really upset by that."
That is paranoid nonsense, of course, and in the end more progressive voices prevailed:
While black church leaders oppose the abortions, others supported the clinic.
Paul Knauls Sr., owner of Geneva's Shear Perfection on MLK and an African American Alliance member, wants to see the grassy lot redeveloped. The Rev. Chuck Currie from Parkrose Community United Church of Christ in outer Northeast Portland backed the abortion services.
Currie said his predecessor served on Planned Parenthood's board and the United Church of Christ's official position is pro-choice.
"We should reject any attempts by those who would insist that their religious views on abortion should supersede the religious freedom of others who come to a different conclusion," Currie wrote.
The Oregonian's coverage would have been slightly more accurate on this point to say that “some” black church leaders opposed Planned Parenthood because other black church leaders spoke in favor of it today or wrote letters of support.
In the end, Planned Parenthood's move and expansion of services will benefit the entire city.
UPDATE: Here's a link to the final version of the story that ran this morning in The Oregonian. You'll note that in the final print edition the reporter changed the line "While black church leaders oppose the abortions, others supported the clinic." It now reads: "While some black civic and church leaders opposed the abortions, others supported the clinic." That one re-rewrite was important and the author deserves credit for his accuracy.
