Latest news with #Ghorbani
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Planned Parenthood of Utah to close 2 clinics following federal freeze on Title X funding
SALT LAKE CITY () — Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) announced that it will close two of its locations after the loss of federal funds. On Tuesday, the organization announced that the Logan and St. George locations are set to close May 2 and that clinical and education staff will be reduced. Earlier this month, the federal government froze Title X funding, which is used for organizations that work to provide family planning, birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing. For PPAU, that is $2.8 million that is now being withheld. More than 200 volunteers dig tree wells for Salt Lake City 'Earth Week' initiative 'When you start to think about the impacts of witholding these dollars, it means people will have to defer care, or they will have to spend a lot more, or disrupt their lives a lot more to get the kind of care that they need,' said Shireen Ghorbani, Interim President of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. To put into perspective the impact these closures can have, Ghorbani shared that, for someone in St. George, the closest options they would have would be to go to Orem (roughly 260 miles away) or Las Vegas (about 150 miles away). In a press release, PPAU said that, without Title X funding, it will also need to increase the sliding-fee scale for self-pay patients. Additionally, telehealth services will be expanded to help patients in rural or remote areas. Title X was in 1970 with bipartisan support and has been the nation's only federally funded family planning program. Ghorbani said that since 1985, PPAU has been the only recipient of Title X funding in the state, and that the withholding of such funds will impact tens of thousands of Utahns who rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for affordable reproductive care. PPAU reports that in 2024, 4,500 patients received care at the Logan and St. George health centers, and more than 26,000 low-income Utahns received low or no-cost services as a result of funding from the Title X program. '[That was] because of a promise from the federal government to ensure that they could make decisions about their bodies in regard to getting birth control when they needed it, getting screened for cancer if they needed that, making sure they were healthy, getting STI screening when they needed that,' she said. 'That promise has been withheld from this administration, and that means that Utahns across the state no longer receive low or no-cost healthcare… Those are individuals who do not have the money to come and see a primary care physician. They come here because they absolutely need our care.' In addition, she said the loss of Title X funding will also impact the organization's educational programs. 'It also supports our education, making sure that people get maturation classes, STI classes, so they understand their sexual health. That has also been deeply impacted by these cuts,' Ghorbani said. PPAU will still have operating health centers in Orem, West Valley City, Salt Lake City, South Jordan, and Ogden. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Police drop inquiry into protester who said ‘Hamas are terrorists'
Police have dropped a 'ludicrous' investigation into a protester who held a 'Hamas are terrorists' banner at pro-Palestine demonstrations. Niyak Ghorbani, an Iranian dissident, became well known last year for protesting against Hamas while standing along the routes of several protests held in London against Israel's retaliation to the Oct 7 attacks. In November last year, he was accused of making racially aggravated threats to kill a supporter of Palestine at a demonstration outside Queen Mary University of London in Mile End. A police investigation was launched after the pro-Palestinian protester alleged that Mr Ghorbani said: 'I'll kill you, you Arab b------'. Mr Ghorbani was campaigning against the university's decision to host Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur, who previously compared Israeli actions with the Holocaust. Ms Albanese, who was appointed to her position in 2022, had also previously said that American opinion on the Israel-Palestine conflict was 'subjugated by the Jewish lobby'. On the day of Hamas's attacks against Israel, she tweeted: 'Today's violence must be put in context.' A formal protest against her was cancelled due to security concerns but several protestors including Mr Ghorbani continued nonetheless, where they were met by pro-Palestinian counter-protesters. Mr Ghorbani has since been told that the investigation into his behaviour has been dropped, according to the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said: 'We welcome the decision to drop the ludicrous investigation against Niyak Ghorbani, who should never have been subjected to this ordeal in the first place. 'It is appalling that those who speak out against terrorism are targeted while actual extremists go unchallenged. We are proud yet again to have provided legal assistance to Mr Ghorbani and we will continue to stand with all those who stand with the Jewish community and face repercussions for doing so.' In April last year, a judge told the Metropolitan Police it could not stop Mr Ghorbani from attending pro-Palestinian protests with his sign which reads 'Hamas are terrorists'. The 38-year-old has been manhandled and attacked by some protesters, but insists he is doing nothing wrong in pointing out that Hamas is a proscribed terror group under UK law. In May last year, Mr Ghorbani was arrested for racism after eating a banana during a pro-Palestine protest. He had been accused of making a racist gesture with it while standing with counter protesters in central London. Mr Ghorbani's lawyer insisted his actions were not racially motivated and the bail conditions were unnecessary and disproportionate. After his arrest, police imposed bail conditions on the 38-year-old, banning him from attending any protest relating to Palestine or from entering the London boroughs of Camden or Westminster. But a judge threw out the strict bail conditions, ruling that the conditions were neither proportionate nor necessary. A Met Police spokesman said: 'No further action will be taken against a man who was arrested following an altercation in Mile End Road on Nov 12 2024. 'Inquiries are still ongoing into an allegation of perverting the course of justice relating to the same incident.'
