The Women's Clinic: What It Would Be And Who's Behind It

Incorporation papers for the Community Women's Clinic - a proposal which shattered the coalition between City Council Democrats and Human Rights Party members on the spending of the city's revenue sharing funds - were filed in Lansing Monday by a group of local women. The purpose of the new non-profit corporation is to establish a clinical f acility which would perform first trimester abortions and serve a full range of family planning and women's health needs, according to its organizers. The facility would be controlled by women and, according to the statement of purpose on its incorporation papers, would "provide services at reasonable cost with equal quality services provided to persons who are in need and are unable to pay on a sliding and flexible scale from zero to full cost." While rumors about the establishment of such a Corporation have been circulatA report on City Council debate over the revenue sharing funds appears on Page 1. ing since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court decisión striking down antiaborlion laws across the country, the coalition which formed the Corporation was pulled together only last week. The decisión to file for incorporation was made last Tuesday at a meeting called by Ann Arbor Attorney Shirley Burgoyne. Support for the project developed rapidly thereafter, dra wing together women from all three of the local political parties, the National Women's Political Caucus, the National Organization for Women, the Women's Crisis Center, the Free People's Clinic and a number of other women's and health groups. After a meeting of the group Sunday afternoon, a number of professional women aipd women prominent in Democratie politics and in the movement for abortion reform added their support to the group and were formally listed as incorporators or members of the incorporation board of directors. Members of the incorporation board include Burgoyne, Marjorie Lansing, Lillian Buckholtz, Benita Kaimowitz, Nancy Lessing, Catherine McClary, Belita Cowan, Jacqui Hoop, Mary Newell, Kay Weiss and Lucy Eldersveld-Wilson. Listed as incorporators are Laura Levinger, Susan Winning, Andrea Barkhas, Marcia ederbush, Jean King, Helen Hunter and Eleanor O'Brien. :u ' ' - i r r ' -t r i On Saturday, representatives of the group met with Mayor Robert J. Harris and Councilman Gerald De Grieck to discuss the allocation of $50,000 of the city's revenue sharing funds to the clinic. (The corporation expects to obtain the remainder of its projected first year budget of $250,000 through a fund-raising campaign, reimbursement for services from the Washtenaw County Health Department's family planning program and fees for services.) At the Saturday meeting, Harris and De Grieck agreed to postpone consideration of the health care portion of the revenue sharing budget until the following week to give Democratie council members time to investígate the proposal and .make a decisión on supporting the allocation for the clinic. After a meeting with Democratie council members later Saturday aftrnoon, however, Harris informed De Grieck and Burgoyne that he would not "under any circumstances" support an allocation for the Community Women's Clinic, nor would he postpone consideration of the health care portion of the budget. The HRP decisión to risk the hardfought coalition budget, which includes appropriations for child care and other health care services, carneas a surprise. Agreement on the budget, even without the appropriation for the clinic, had been firm as late as Monday afternoon. The HRP steering committee decided at a later meeting to force the issue of the clinic, according to De Grieck, "becuase of the massive support that is developing for the project among the women of the community." With the two HRP votes needed to pass the coalition budget withdrawn, a motion was passed to defer consideration of the budget until next week. De Grieck éxpressed the hope that in that time Harris would become fully aware of what he called the breadth of support for the Community Women's Clinic and agree to the allocation. Harris maintained, however, that he would not agree to the allocation "no matter how many people éxpressed support.". Supporters of the Community Women's Clinic contrast it with another corporation planning an abortion and family planning facility for the area in that it will be controlled by women and responsible to the needs of low income women. "There will not be an abortion facility in this community responsible to the needs of low income women if this is not established," said Kaimowitz, HRP candidate for mayor and a member of the incorporation board. "Women with money have always been able to get an abortion," she said. "We want the Supreme Court decisión to make a difference. We want to establish a fadlitv that will tirovide oualitv vices to all tornen." ( In the meantime, Family Planning Medical Services, Inc., a non-profit corporation which was formed almost a i year ago at the initiation of personnel at University Hospital and in cooperation with the Washtenaw County League for Planned Parenthood to establish a family planning and abortion facility, announced Monday it has obtained I ary financing and located a site and is I "actively continuing its development of I a community family planning medical facility." After a controversy which developed late last year, FPMS recently restructured its board off directors to provide an equal number of consumer and provider representatives. A previously announced seven-member board included Br J Bobert Willson, head of University Women's hospital, Dr. Edward C Pierce of the Summit Street Clinic' phüanthropist Eugene B. Power' Planned Parenthood board members Pat Asleson and Ba.rt Burkhalter and consumer representatives Judie Wood and Johnniebelle Robinson. That board has been expanded to 10 members. Interim appointments of three additional consumer representatives have been made until a mechanism for the selection of consumer members can be worked out. They include Wendy Chavkin of the Planned Parenthood teen clinic and Delores Dogan and Jo Stevens from the Washtenaw County Committee on the Status of Women. The News ,has learned that the FPMS I board will meet here this week with a I consultant from a similar family I ning and abortion faclity in New York I City and will hold a press conference I late next week to announce details of the I facility's location and operations.