by Bishop Robert Mar Ephrem Lopez | The Proximity Portal
Let me get right to it: we are watching a system collapse in real time—and most people have no idea it’s happening.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM), the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country, has just lost its Medicaid and Medi-Cal funding across much of its network. That means patients across 12 counties in California—Santa Cruz, San Benito, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Sacramento—and the entire state of Nevada—are now left without guaranteed access to the reproductive, perinatal, cancer screening, and general health services they rely on.
Let that sink in: tens of thousands of people, many of them low-income or rural, are being told that if they want care, they may need to travel 30 or more miles—just to be seen.
I recently joined the board of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. And as it often happens when I step into a space, the house is already on fire. But this isn’t just a crisis—it’s a pattern. It’s a slow, coordinated dismantling of access. And it’s not limited to red states.
This is coming for all of us.
Even in places where we assume we’re safe—where progressive values and public funding supposedly protect people—those protections are eroding. Our elected officials, across party lines, have failed to defend the basic principle that everyone deserves healthcare, no matter their income, zip code, or insurance status.
And while some will try to reframe this in purely moral or political terms, I want to say this plainly: access to care is a human right. And in communities like ours, where faith, justice, and proximity matter—we don’t look away when people are abandoned.
Don’t fall for the distractions. While headlines swirl with sensationalism, real lives are being quietly made more fragile by bureaucratic decisions and political cowardice.
Stay close to the fire. This is how the work starts—by refusing to let this be someone else’s crisis.
For those who pray, pray for me. For those who organize, let’s organize together. And for those who’ve been waiting for a moment to act—this is it.
We are the ones who stand in the gap.
—Bishop Robert Mar Ephrem Lopez