Two small opposing factions stood across from each other outside the Long Beach Unified School District headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The issue of contention was the expected opening of a new wellbeing center at Jordan High School in North Long Beach next month.
Through partnerships with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, 50 wellbeing centers are expected to open in schools across LA County. The wellbeing center at Jordan High School will provide education and services for sexual and mental health, as well as substance abuse prevention.
In a written statement, LBUSD clarified that the wellbeing centers would not be providing abortions to students, and that staff would not be allowed to suggest to a student that they have an abortion.
Wellbeing center staff also would not be able to refer students for abortions at medical facilities. However, staff will provide factual information about pregnancy options, including birth and parenting, adoption and foster care as well as abortion.
A group formed by conservative Latinos, Lexit, shared a flier through Instagram on Jan. 16 incorrectly calling the wellness centers “abortion referral centers.” The flier claimed that students would now be able to access condoms, other forms of birth control and emergency contraception, as well as have the ability to schedule abortions, on campus.
Condoms will be available at Jordan High School’s wellbeing center, but other forms of birth control such as daily pills or the Plan B pill will not be available for students. No referrals for abortion will be made at the wellbeing center.
Students will also be able to access testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Once a week a medical assistant and a nurse practitioner from Planned Parenthood will staff the wellbeing center, but they will not be providing any services related to abortion.
The online flier by Lexit called on people to show up to LBUSD headquarters on Jan.18 to protest wellbeing centers.
A group of counter-protesters also arrived to show their support for the wellbeing centers and reproductive rights. Individuals in both camps took turns addressing the LBUSD board during its meeting that evening.
The fact that wellbeing centers keep student concerns confidential proved to be a polarizing issue for protesters and counter protesters. The flier by Lexit stated “they are trying to take your rights away as a parent and have your child keep secrets from you.”
Stephanie Perez, a teacher at Jordan high school said, if faced with the choice, she would remove her child from school rather than let them have access to a wellbeing center.
“In Long Beach [Unified] we over-notify. As I’m here, I got three emails about finals week, but if a kid goes inside [the center], the parent knows nothing,” Perez said. “As a parent, that grieves me so much to the point where if this were coming to my daughter’s school, I would pull her out.”
Stephanie Gutierrez, an organizer with BAMN–the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary—argued that confidentiality for students is crucial.
“We know that for many of us, if our parents knew we were sexually active, or pregnant, or gay or struggling with any of the particular things that young people struggle with, we could get beaten, or they could present additional unnecessary obstacles to us being able to deal with issues we face and are capable of resolving ourselves with the help of our schools,” Gutierrez said. “It is essential to learning and development for young people to have a safe school environment that validates and acknowledges their existence.”
“It is not an abortion clinic, nor is it a medical clinic,” clarified Erin Simon, assistant superintendent of school support services, at the Dec. 14 board meeting.
Simon said that specifically for North Long Beach, where Jordan High School is located, access to mental and sexual health care is an equity issue and the wellbeing center is a resource for students to receive this support.
“We feel it is a safe confidential place for students to go that won’t breach their confidentiality,” Simon said. “What better place than to have that at a school site where they don’t have to leave.”
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