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Contents © 1995
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

October 1995 LITTLE NOTES

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The California Catholic Conference lobbied for a "conscience clause" to be added to AB 1101, so organizations who are opposed to abortion would not be required to provide abortion coverage for their employees, according to David Pollard, associate director at CCC. He added that the CCC also sent a letter in support of Ray Haynes' amendments excluding abortion from the required "pregnancy-related" coverage.

Pro-life groups had hoped in June to stop the bill in committee, but former speaker Doris Allen, chair of the state assembly's health committee, provided the key vote which allowed the bill to go on.

Other bills considered by the legislature before the September 15 break include AB 1127, promoted by Planned Parenthood, which would require that foster children be given "age appropriate pregnancy prevention." This bill was also sponsored by assembly member Kuehl, as well as by Barbara Friedman (Democrat from North Hollywood). When the bill came back to the assembly for concurrence, Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro sent it back to his Health and Human Services Committee after packing the committee with strong pro-lifers, including Assemblyman Bruce Thompson and Assemblyman Bob Margett. Friedman realized her bill would be defeated in committee, so she converted it to a "two-year bill," to be taken up again in January. If it fails in January, the bill dies.

AB 378, sponsored by Kevin Murray from Los Angeles, was designed to promote Norplant against poor minority women. The bill would have increased the amount of money paid to providers for inserting Norplant and decreases the amount of money they receive for removing the contraceptive device. Ironically, while lawmakers were debating this bill, an attorney was advertising in the Sacramento Bee for women who have been injured by use of Norplant, to sue the manufacturer. AB 378 passed both houses, returning to the Assembly for concurrence September 15. In spite of support by Doris Allen, the bill failed.

According to Carol Hogan, the CCC staffer in charge of life and health issues, she read both AB 1127 and AB 378, but the bishops' lobby did not get involved with either bill.


WOMANCARE'S SUMMER '95 newsletter arrived, packed with useful information about workers at their two clinics living in terror day to day because of the great likelihood of attack by violent pro-lifers. According to the newsletter, they consider it necessary to screen arriving patients with an intercom system, for fear of anti-abortion "infiltrators" having made appointments and sneaking in. (To do what? The newsletter doesn't specify.) The front-page message from WomanCare executive director Ashley Phillips insists that anything short of the pro-choice position should be unacceptable in the public forum. She regards all prolifers as terrorists, including those who "incite" others to violence through picketing, counseling, and writing books about how to close abortion clinics. "When the leaders of the 'pro-life' movement equate abortion with murder," she says, "they incite their members to violence." She adds that, if their two small clinics were forced to close, "...over ten thousand women would be denied access to family planning, cancer screening, prenatal care, perimenopausal services, and our speaker's bureau." She reminds her readers of the importance of abortion in women's health because "a woman dies every three minutes from pregnancy-related complications."

She didn't mention that the abortionist serving their South Bay clinic, Dr. Phillip Rand, has the worst record in the county for harming women during abortions, as evidenced by the number of lawsuits against him. Since Battle v. Rand (not abortion-related) resulted in a multi-million dollar judgment against him in 1992, Rand has avoided paying by declaring bankruptcy, transfering some of his assets to his attorney-daughter, and other legal maneuverings to protect his holdings. San Diego attorney Tim Rutherford, representing the plaintiff in the multi-million dollar suit, says efforts to collect from Rand have been unsuccessful. Rand's new car is owned by Ford Motor Credit Company, leased by his daughter. Rutherford tried to garnish Rand's payments from WomanCare, but the payments are made through Dr. Myron Schonbrun (on staff at Mercy Hospital, formerly chief of obstetrics and gynecology there), who claims Rand is his employee. Schonbrun has countersued Rutherford to stop him from "harrassing" Rand.

The WomanCare newsletter included details about WomanCare's new Project YouthCare, aimed at kids age 12-19. The ladies at WomanCare lamented the increasing need for such services to young children: "This is clearly illustrated by alarming statistics collected by the Alan Guttmacher Institute [an office of Planned Parenthood]. Teens surveyed report...they have too little information about sex; parents have not talked to them about how pregnancy occurs..."


A $500,000 DEFAULT JUDGEMENT was awarded to the family of Magdalena Ortega Rodriguez on September 11 by superior court judge Arthur Jones. Ortega was killed along with her daughter of 28+ weeks gestation at El Norte Clinic by abortionist Suresh Gandotra. Gandotra fled to India in February; the Ortega family's attorney, Tim Rutherford, is hopeful that the amount of the judgement will help force the extradition of Gandotra. (Gandotra's Orange County attorney did not show up; he quit the case when he lost the motion to quash service.) Ortega's mother gave tearful testimony at the superior court hearing, explaining that her grandaughter Ashley still expects her mother to appear anytime there is a knock at the door.


ANOTHER CHILDREN' SERVICE has also begun in San Diego, with the new San Diego Adolscent Health Coalition, made up of doctors, psychologist, school nurses, clinic operators and others. Judging from the premiere newsletter (July 95), this group thinks the main service adolescents need is birth control, followed by treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases. One of the major players in the coalition is Vicki Tueros, FPNP, a nurse practitioner who has worked for late-term abortionist Dr. William Swartz Swartz, formerly at UCSD Medical Center and now in private practice. Mercy Health Center pediatrician Wayne Sells, M.D. is also involved, and is the point man for processing the surveys newsletter recipients were asked to complete. Dr. Sells did not return News Notes calls.


BRIAN BILBRAY has increased his pro-abortion voting record from 8 out of 11 to 10 out of 13. Bilbray took the opportunity to prove his support for abortion in votes on two other provisions submitted during the House of Representatives' August 2 and 3 votes on appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services. Bilbray voted against a proposal to allow each state to decide what abortions to pay for, if any, under the Medicaid program (except if the life of the mother were at risk), and a provision which would prevent penalizing medical residency programs if they refuse to provide abortion training. According to the August 22 issue of the National Right to Life News, new directives from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education require abortion training.


AFTER THREE YEARS of helping the Bridgettine sisters in Tecate, Campo resident Mike Mikesell had to stop traveling to the convent about eight months ago because of run-ins with the Mexican border patrol. After months of brusque treatment of Mikesell (and several friends who made trips to Tecate with food and clothing for the nuns), including searches of everything he took to the sisters and restrictions on amount of clothing he could transport, Mexican agents threatened confiscation of his vehicle if he tried to cross at Tecate again. Agents had been more up-front with another Bridgettine supporter about the need for bribes if he wished to cross into Tecate with provisions; Mikesell feels his treatment represented a more subtle bribe request. He attempted to resolve the matter with Tecate politicians (including a former commandante of the Tecate border guard station and Mikesell's friend, the mayor's wife), but to no avail. Mikesell and friends have stopped visiting the sisters.


THE GROUP which the Bridgettines in the News Notes story ("Piece by Piece," September, 1995) described as a "homeschooling support group" in Joshua Tree which has beensending them money turns out to be the high school class of Our Lady of the Desert School, a lay-run school for Catholics.


ANY PRO-LIFERS INTERESTED? The Sixth Avenue Medical Building, home to the WomanCare abortion mill and the subject of a highly-restrictive court order against pro-life demonstrations and sidewalk counseling, is being sold, per instruction of the bankruptcy court. The asking price is $7,500,000, although a July, 1995 memo from the real estate broker indicated a price of $6,700,000 would be acceptable. The real estate agent stated that the building itself is highly profitable, and the bankruptcy is due to the owner's unrelated financial difficulties.


SAN DIEGO CHAPTER OF TORCH (Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes), a Catholic homeschooling support group, is forming in San Diego. Non-homeschoolers are welcome to participate in the group's play groups, seasonal celebrations and Catholic cultural activities (May crownings, All Saints' Day parties, etc.). For more information, call Kristin McGuire at 435-5350.


IN HIS LETTER to local Life Chain organizers, Royce Dunn, national director of Life Chain, shared his new "revelation" about artificial contraception: "As a Protestant, I assumed through most of my adult life that artificial birth control was acceptable-- that it prevented conception only and did not take life. My assumption was wrong, and even after knowing so, I failed to focus on my error. Today, I am convinced that artifical birth control is displeasing to God. It was the force that propelled Margaret Sanger. It was the force that ushered in the Sexual Revolution. It is a wedded bedfellow to abortion...It devalues children, cheapens relationships, and physically injures its users far beyond what the medical establishment is willing to disclose. It is not of the Lord." He advises his (mostly Protestant) colleagues to investigate the new scientific methods of Natural Family Planning: "Natural family planning requires knowledge and a commitment of heart. It strengthens the relationship between husband and wife...I trust each of us will help spread the word about the artificial birth control holocaust in America, Canada and the world."


THIS YEAR'S LIFE CHAIN in San Diego will be held Sunday, October 8 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Meet at St. Catherine Laboure Parish parking lot (Mt. Alifan and Balboa). Volunteers from local crisis pregnancy centers will be accepting gifts of baby items or money at Life Chain's concurrent baby shower.


EL CAJON HOMESCHOOERS are starting a Confirmation class, as per diocesan canon lawyer Ed Peter's letter mentioned in the September issue of News Notes, to involve orthodox, challenging texts (including Catechism of the Catholic Church) and traditional Catholic spirituality. Nonhomeschoolers are welcome. The students will be approximately age 13 through 16. For more information, please leave a message at 684-8014 or write to: Confirmation Class, PO Box 84507, San Diego, CA 92138. Names will be forwarded to class organizers.


THE SAN DIEGO OFFICE for Catechetical Ministries runs a Media Center, renting religious education videos to schools and individuals. The price is $4 for three-day rental. Subscription programs are also offered. Video rentals can be handled by mail. Titles from the media center recommended at a workshop on Catholic Bible study at the July 29 homeschooling conference include Time Travel through the Bible, New Media Bible, A.D. and Footsteps of Peter and Paul. The center also has an 8-part series on Church history. The media center is located at the San Diego Pastoral Center (3888 Paducah Drive), open 8:30 to 12 and 1 to 4:30 M-F. Call 490-8237 for more information.


IN EARLY SEPTEMBER the Diocese of Monterey released guidelines which attempt to restrict parents who choose to catechize their children themselves at home, bypassing unacceptable parish CCD programs. The guidelines state that parents must be certified as catechists by the diocese and must use diocesan-approved texts, which include series by Tabor, Benziger, Silver-Burdett, one text from the Daughters of St. Paul (Alive in Jesus), but not Ignatius' Faith and Life series or the Baltimore Catechism. Sr. Dolores Fenzel, director of catechetical ministries for Monterey, in a cover letter sent to pastors with the guidelines, made reference to "homeschooling parents' agenda."

Sr. Fenzel did not return News Notes calls, but a secretary at the Monterey Office for Catechetical Ministries said the policy was written at the request of local homeschoolers. Theresa Frye, a homeschooler who contacted the National Association of Catholic Home Educators after the guidelines were released, recounted in a September 8 interview how she and her husband Luke approached the catechetical advisory board one year ago to request an official policy for homeschoolers, so they wouldn't have to go "underground," finding sympathetic priests to give sacraments to their children. The Fryes had worked with Fenzel (Luke served as chairman of the Board of Catholic Education one year) and believed the diocese would instruct pastors to allow children who had been catechized outside of parish CCD programs to receive sacraments.

When the rough draft of the new policy were sent to pastors a couple month ago, a sympathetic parish secretary leaked them to the Fryes. Theresa sent a letter to Sr. Fenzel outlining her concerns, but received no response; the guidelines were released without change.

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