Senate Defeats Bill to Finance School Clinics

The state Senate narrowly defeated controversial legislation Thursday night that would have authorized state financing for health clinics at high school campuses, despite assurances that the sites would not be used for abortions.

The bill received 20 favorable votes, one short of the number needed for passage, after a seven-hour campaign by its author, Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael). There were 16 votes against the bill.

A similar bill cleared the Legislature in 1986 and was vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian for fiscal reasons.

Currently, six privately financed school-based student health clinics are in operation in California, including three in the Los Angeles Unified School District--at Los Angeles High, San Fernando High and Jordan High.

The bill, in which supporters inserted an amendment aimed at assuring that no abortions would occur at a campus clinic, would have allowed the use of state funds to supplement private money to operate the clinics.

Supporters said the clinics would have been similar to outpatient clinics at hospitals and would have offered confidential health care and counseling to students who otherwise would not receive it.

Wide Range of Services

Services would have ranged from treating sports injuries and offering prenatal care for pregnant teens to programs designed to reduce drug and alcohol abuse, depression, suicide, the soaring teen-age birth rate and to emphasize abstinence from sexual activity.

The clinics would have been required to specify a list of services and the parent of a student would have been required to sign a form giving written consent to all, some or none of the services. School district trustees would have had to give their approval before a clinic was established on or next to a school site.

Earlier in the week, anti-abortion senators voiced concern that the clinics, which would have been staffed by medical professionals, might also offer abortion as a method of birth control. In an effort to satisfy them, Greene added an amendment to prohibit a surgical procedure that requires a physician to perform it.

Greene told the Senate the measure contained “no surgical procedures,” which, he said, “is targeted at abortions, frankly.”

But some opponents remained skeptical and turned their attention toward other forms of birth control. Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside) asked Greene if the clinics could make contraceptives available to students and distribute them.

“It’s possible,” Greene said.

But he noted that before contraceptives were offered, clinics first would have faced the substantial barrier of winning approval of elected school trustees and then of obtaining parental consent before a student could receive a condom or other device.