California district postpones vote on establishing a Planned Parenthood clinic at high school

A Southern California school board has postponed a vote on whether to open an on-campus Planned Parenthood clinic at one of its schools.

The Norwalk-La Mirada school board's decision to put off the vote came as protesters gathered outside a board meeting where the proposal to allow the clinic at John Glenn High School was scheduled for a vote.

The school board was going to vote on whether to approve a five-year contract with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles to operate the clinic at the high school in Norwalk, 17 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The clinic would be able to provide prescriptions and dispense pharmaceuticals related to reproductive health, including contraceptives, It also would be able to provide the insertion of non-surgical long-acting reversible contraceptives, including IUDs, according to the proposal

Abortions and gender-affirming hormone therapy were not listed as services that will be provided at the on-campus site, but clinic staff would be permitted to make referrals to other Planned Parenthood centers "for services not offered" at the school, according to the proposal.

The proposed agreement says that the clinic "will encourage students to involve their families in decision making" regarding reproductive health services. But it also stated that under California law, minors have the right to consent to those services without parental consent or notification.