In a surprise move last week, four Gillette City Council members voted to remove $30,000 in optional 1% sales tax funding from Gillette Reproductive Health, removing it from the upcoming fiscal year budget.
Last week’s vote came after Mayor Shay Lundvall claimed that the clinic’s website previously hosted links to abortion advocacy groups and listed adoption/abortion counseling on its list of services in previous editions.
The clinic is popular among Gillette residents and is Campbell County’s only provider of low-cost birth control and emergency contraception. The clinic also offers STD testing for men and women, as well as other services, often at a reduced cost.
Ward 2 representative Jack Clary, who made the initial budget amendment motion, voted against funding the agency, as did Ward 1 representative Chris Smith, Ward 2 Representative Tim Carsrud, and Lundvall.
Ward 3 representatives Heidi Gross and Nathan McLeland, along with Ward 1 representative Jim West, voted to keep the funding.
The meeting was the first of three required ordinance readings for the city budget, which must be approved by July 1 for city services to continue to operate.
The funds could be reintroduced into the budget through subsequent amendments at either of the remaining readings. However, during second reading Monday night, the council voted 4-3 against an amendment to reinstate the money. The third reading of the city budget is scheduled for June 17.
After a lengthy debate among residents and council members, Lundvall had the final say, claiming that Gillette Reproductive Health’s website previously included links to Power to Decide, a reproductive health advocacy organization that supports the right to abortion services.
The Power to Decide website also includes links to AbortionFinder and Bedsider sites, which connect users to verified abortion providers and birth control resources, respectively.
Lundvall also stated that an earlier version of Gillette Reproductive Health’s website included adoption/abortion counseling referrals in its list of services.
Previous versions of the website, accessed via the WayBackMachine archive, support Lundvall’s claims about the links and services listed on previous versions of the website.
“Whether intentional or unintentional, and considering the full breadth of conversations, emails, text messages, phone calls, documented evidence and my in-person meeting with Gillette Reproductive Health and their submission of all available paperwork, substantial inconsistencies remain,” according to Lundvall. “Rather than delivering transparency and clarity, the information gathered has only deepened the uncertainty and left me with significantly more questions than answers.”
Following the vote, Julie Price Carroll, the agency’s executive director, used the public comment period to express her disappointment with Lundvall for not discussing the concerns before the meeting to get their side of the story, and she asked Carsrud and Smith to reconsider their vote in the future.
“If there was something on one of their websites that we were unaware of, then that has no reflection on Gillette Reproductive Health or the fact that I have tried to be transparent with everybody who goes into the clinic and everyone who comes out,” Price Carroll told me. “I believe you are telling me that I was not being transparent or truthful. “I disagree with [that].”
Thursday afternoon, Lundvall told the News Record that he conducted the research entirely on his own after hearing from both sides of the debate.
He expressed concern about the timing of the removal of links to Power to Decide, which he claimed occurred in May after the issue of funding was raised, albeit not formally addressed, at city council meetings.
When asked about the links and language on Thursday, Price Carroll stated that the term “adoption/abortion counseling” was commonly used to refer to pregnancy options counseling at the time, in which a patient would be given information on the available options, and that the changes were intended to clarify that Gillette Reproductive Health does not provide any abortion-related services.
Price Carroll also stated that she was unaware that Power to Decide contained links to services such as AbortionFinder, and when she was informed in May, she immediately had their webmaster remove the links.
When asked about the impact of the funding loss on services, Price Carroll stated that the clinic has already eliminated a position and reduced other staffing, as well as reduced clinic days from three to two per week, in response to the potential cuts.
According to sources from both the city and the clinic, a meeting was scheduled for Friday between Gillette Reproductive Health and some members of the city council to discuss questions raised by the mayor’s research, but the outcome of the meeting was not available at press time.
“I really believe that there has been a lack of good faith [by the city council] to come to us with their concerns and questions, and we have not been given an opportunity to sit down and have constructive dialogue,” said Gillette Reproductive Health Board Chair Wendy Gauntner.
She went on to say that such a meeting on the council’s concerns would have been more productive than limiting their director to two minute one-way talks during city meetings.
While a public hearing and comment period are scheduled for the third vote the following week, Monday’s vote did not include either.
Last Tuesday’s vote came after a lengthy public hearing in which many residents, as well as Gillette Reproductive Health Volunteer Medical Director Dr. David Beck and Price Carroll, argued in favor of keeping the funding.
Meanwhile, Pastor Ed Sisti and Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, claimed the clinic offered abortion referrals and services.
“We are not stopping abortion, we are just not supporting it, and you are supporting it,” according to Sisti. “Even if one referral is made, you are supporting it.”
“I sent all of you a letter to not support that with taxpayer dollars.”Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette
“I sent all of you a letter to not support that with taxpayer dollars,” Bear told reporters. “I believe that it is appropriate for individuals to pay for or donate to provide that type of service. There are other services in the city that offer the same types of services without the abortion component, and they are entirely privately funded.”
The agency has denied these claims for years, and if it provided these services, it would be ineligible for federal Title X funding, which only covers nondirective abortion counseling.
Each year, all clinic staff must sign the Wyoming Health Council’s Family Planning Statement of Understanding in accordance with these requirements.
Beck stated that the clinic does not provide or distribute referrals for abortion procedures or medication, and that the 1% funding is essential for the clinic to continue providing services to the community.
“Gillette Reproductive Health clinic and I do not perform abortions [or] dispense medications that would cause abortion or support termination of life,” Beck informed us. “For more than 20 years, we have received financial support from the city and county to provide cancer screenings, STD treatment, and healthcare to citizens of Gillette and Campbell County who could not otherwise afford it, and we request that the city council reinstate our funding. We couldn’t have covered our operating costs in the last two years without it.”
Beck went on to discuss the importance of the patient-doctor relationship, explaining that when speaking with women considering abortion, he does his best to highlight the risks and consequences, and that his duty as a doctor is to the patient’s health.
“I usually have the patient return in a couple days to process this information and return questions,” Beck disclosed. “If a patient returns adamant that she has no other options and has decided to terminate her pregnancy, I will give her Planned Parenthood’s address.
I don’t want her to turn to the internet for Chinese herbs or medications, or instructions on how to use a coat hanger to perform this [on] herself, which happens.”
Some audience members said they would prefer that the council cancel the funding, but many who spoke at the meeting cited the clinic’s positive impact as a reason for the city to continue funding it.
“I think we forget, moms have a life too, and their health sometimes depends on the care they receive,” said Gillette resident Leigh Jacobs.
“I was treated at Gillette Reproductive Health for some pre-cancerous cells by Dr. Beck. I know others who have sought assistance there. It doesn’t all revolve around pregnancy.”
“I think we forget, moms have a life too, and their health sometimes depends on the care they receive.”Leigh Jacobs, Gillette resident
Others focused on the misinformation that they feel has been used to slander the clinic, such as Gillette resident Beth Morgan, who said she felt compelled to speak up despite not having plans to do so at the start of the meeting.
“The staff there are pro-life Christians, and this narrative that they provide abortions has been running through this community for several years now,” Morgan told me. “Despite being repeatedly told that they do not provide abortions in any form, they do not recommend them.
People are still repeating that lie, and I’m not sure why we have to keep addressing it when the facts have been stated repeatedly.”
During the hearing, the council was also given the results of an online petition with 504 signatures, 466 of which came from Campbell County IP addresses, requesting that the funding be continued. As of Thursday evening, there were 632 verified signatures.
Following public comment, council members discussed the clinic’s funding, with Clary stating that the agency has reserve funds and that the city’s money would be better spent elsewhere.
“I don’t see the need for the money here, and I do not think our residents see the need for the money here,” Clary told me. “I think we’re not listening to our constituents when it comes to tax dollars.”
West, Gross, and McLeland all emphasized the high level of positive support received at the meetings, as well as via emails and the petition presented that evening.
“This is such an important service to our community,” McLeland stated. “I believe a lack of access to this type of care is extremely detrimental. I think it’s fantastic that we can help provide it. This is something that the community requires access to. This is care that people require, and I support it.”
Smith clarified that his vote to remove the funding was motivated primarily by financial considerations. He stated that the organization’s support convinced him that it did not require tax dollars and would most likely raise even more money through direct fundraising efforts from community supporters.
“They’ve been in Gillette for years and have a great clientele. They obviously have a lot of friends, and I believe with a little effort, they could exceed the $30,000,” Smith said. “I thank them… I wish them well and hope they seize this opportunity.”
While not explaining his vote, Carsrud noted public support for the clinic and expressed his hope that those who signed the petition will continue to support an organization that is important to them.
“I do want to encourage everybody that did send emails and sign this petition, no matter which direction this goes, send these folks a check,” according to Carsrud. “If you support [them], please send them a check, and the same goes for any other nonprofit organization that you care deeply about.
Not all Gillette residents want their tax dollars to go to this or that or that. “If you’re passionate about something, support it.”
In response, Gross stated that doing good and popular work should not be used to judge an agency, and that the clinic’s funding reduces the cost that the city would pay if its patients used emergency room services for the same issues.
“I don’t think that we should penalize nonprofits because they are providing great services, and they’re doing a good job of it,” Mr. Gross said. “We have to remember too that these nonprofits fill a gap, because if we didn’t have these organizations, then somebody else is going to be picking up the tab, and it’s going to be at a much higher cost.”
