Wilson Order to Eliminate Prenatal Care

* Gov. Pete Wilson’s executive order (Aug. 28) to stop prenatal care for illegal immigrants puts people’s lives in jeopardy. Prenatal care prevents infant mortality and maternal deaths. It also prevents long, expensive hospital stays in neonatal intensive care units.

The Venice Family Clinic is the largest free clinic in the country and in 1996 provided 3,000 prenatal care visits to women who are linked to UCLA Medical Center for delivery. Our mission is to provide health care and prenatal care to people. Labels such as legal, illegal, homeless and poor do not apply to the Venice Family Clinic.

My colleague, Dr. Carol Archie, who is a volunteer obstetrician at the clinic, remembers the time when there was no funding for prenatal care. She says: “Gov. Wilson’s executive order has turned back the clock to 1988 when our emergency rooms were filled with women coming in to give birth. We had no way of knowing who was coming and when. Most had had no prenatal care. Because of emergency Medi-Cal, the Venice Family Clinic has been able to provide this much-needed prenatal care.”

The Venice Family Clinic provides primary health care services to more than 13,000 people in over 59,000 patient visits each year. The clinic expanded to two new sites this year and doubled its prenatal program as a response to the closure of Los Angeles County health facilities. This expansion will increase patient visits to 75,000 per year but will in no way meet the need of the thousands of expectant mothers in need of care.

ELIZABETH BENSON FORER

Executive Director

Venice Family Clinic

* Re “Wilson Edict Stirs Fears at L.A. Clinic,” Aug. 31:

Excuse me? Where is my side of the issue of government-funded prenatal care for illegal immigrants? I’m a citizen and taxpayer. And fed up paying for two counts of lack of personal responsibility: entering the country illegally and conceiving irresponsibly. Get the message, girls, the free ride on the backs of legal taxpayers is over.

ALICE LA BRIE

Los Angeles

* It is admirable that dedicated medical practitioners, such as Dr. Luz Medina, are available to give medical care to the poor, legal and illegal alike. However, in reference to treating illegal immigrants, for Medina to make pronouncements such as “we won’t let their benefits be cut off,” may be wishful thinking.

Resources are getting stretched to the limit, to the point where the United States must conserve whatever resources are available for its citizens and those who have gone to the trouble to come here legally. And perhaps clinics should strongly encourage patients such as Rosa Espinoza to practice birth control, as many of us do who must put a limit on how many mouths we can feed and who cannot feed at the public trough.

DIANA DAWES

Los Angeles