Public Health Panel Opposes Prop. 187

The Ventura County Public Health Community Advisory Board has voted to oppose Proposition 187, charging that passage of the November ballot initiative would jeopardize the health of all Californians by allowing the spread of disease.

The so-called Save Our State measure would deny most public services, including public health care, to illegal immigrants.

“The underlying principle about communicable diseases is that you have to protect the entire population,” Chairwoman Barbara Thorpe said. “If you take a segment of the population and say we’re not going to protect them, then the rest of the population becomes endangered.”

Thorpe said the likelihood of measles and tuberculosis outbreaks would increase if illegal immigrants were denied immunization and that such outbreaks would not be limited to illegal immigrants.

“Bugs don’t respect boundaries,” she said.

The board’s resolution, passed unanimously at its meeting Thursday, also warned that “Proposition 187 would turn our doctors, nurses and teachers into INS agents and our hospitals and schools into immigration offices.”