Planned Parenthood gives Choice Awards

The Grand Newport Plaza Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa was the setting for the 2005 Choice Awards Luncheon given by Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties. The event marked the 40th anniversary celebration for the local Planned Parenthood chapters and was a platform to present the 2005 Choice Awards to two distinguished local women. Jene Witte of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach City Councilwoman Jane Egly, were honored.

More than 200 local guests went to Turnip Rose to lend their support for the programs associated with Planned Parenthood. Conversation in the crowd centered on Proposition 73, which is on next week ballot in the California election. The proposition calls for parental notification prior to the termination of a minor’s pregnancy.

Thus the conversation at the recent Planned Parenthood luncheon was most serious. It was not another social gathering filled with well dressed women clicking glasses of chardonnay and exchanging polite small talk. There were disagreements and heated discussions even among patrons presumably representing the same side of the very divisive coin.

Following the event, Vera Oxblood of Dover Shores said, “I do not believe in abortion; I do not advocate abortion except in the most extreme cases. But I believe two things. First, it’s a women’s right to choose, and it’s nobody’s business. Second, I do not want my tax dollars paying to end pregnancies.”

Oxblood’s point of view is not shared by all in Planned Parenthood.

However, she added, “Planned Parenthood is about disseminating confidential information on reproductive healthcare.”

She went on to say that if both women and men are fully informed there should be no excuse for unwanted pregnancy, except perhaps in cases of rape or uniformed juveniles.

Kimberlee Ward, representing Planned Parenthood added: “We represent the fundamental right of individuals to determine their own destiny. Our mission is to provide comprehensive, honest sex education and health information which hopefully will enable individuals to make responsible and informed choices.”

Though there are many who do not consider an unwanted child a matter of choice, it is surely evident that responsible sex education either provided by parents, clergy, schools or an organization such as Planned Parenthood may be vital in preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Jene Witte, one of the Choice Award recipients is a visible local advocate in the abortion-rights community. She is a founding member of Citizen Action Newport Beach and has served on many local boards, including Planned Parenthood, for the past six years.

Witte said, “My mother was a nurse who provided birth control information and devices for poor women in the 1930s and 1940s, long before birth control became legal. I have seen first-hand the importance of ensuring access to reproductive healthcare services, and I have devoted my life to making sure that all women are able to receive high quality, affordable care.”

Choice Award recipient Jane Egly has also served on the Planned Parenthood board for the past six years, including terms as chairman of the board. Egly’s activism has included leading an O.C. contingent to Washington, D.C., for the March for Women’s Lives. Egly and her husband Paul have three grown children, and grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She was candid, saying, “When I was a young woman, if you wanted to obtain an abortion at the hospital in my community, a group of all male doctors had to decide whether or not you were sane. If they found you were not sane, you were left to take matters into your own hands. When I heard that, I became pro-choice.”

The afternoon in Costa Mesa included an address by Sandra Tsing Loh, a political satirist who provided the keynote speech for the event. Loh is heard nationwide on a radio broadcast called “The Loh Down” on Public Radio International’s “Marketplace.” In the crowd of Planned Parenthood supporters were Newport Beach residents Martin and Elaine Weinberg, Donald and Cheryl Dunn, Pam Bryant, Patrice Patterson, Doreen Hamburger, Marsha Baker, Anne Cox and Teddie Ray.

* THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.