George Goto, Honolulu obstetrician and gynecologist, and Louise K.Y. Ing, Honolulu attorney, have been honored for their long commitment to women's reproductive rights. Planned Parenthood honors
supporters for their dedication
to women’s reproductive rightsBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comThey received the Bette Takahashi Service Award from the Planned Parenthood of Hawaii at its recent annual brunch.
Takahashi was past president and member of the organization's board, an advocate of reproductive rights and dedicated community and Planned Parenthood volunteer.
Goto has provided reproductive health care and education and advocated for reproductive health care rights for 46 years.
A veteran of the 232nd Engineering Combat Company, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, he returned to Hawaii after completing his internship and residency in St. Louis.
He began advocating for women's reproductive health care, including legal abortions. He had been treating women in emergency rooms who suffered from botched, illegal abortions.
Hawaii became the first state in the nation to enact a law legalizing abortions.
Goto was one of the original Planned Parenthood of Hawaii board members and was instrumental in chartering the organization. He also advocated to lower the age of majority to 18. In 1979, he worked to amend the Minors Law to enable them to receive family planning services without parental notice.
Ing has long supported women's rights and women's ability to make responsible choices through access to reproductive health care. She has voluntarily represented women's issues at the Legislature, recently testifying to defeat a bill on parental notification.
She was asked by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women and the Legislative Women's Caucus to provide legal analysis supporting passage of a bill requiring health insurance plans in Hawaii to provide contraceptive coverage. The bill was passed, making Hawaii one of the first states to require such coverage.
Ing is founding shareholder, director and officer of the Honolulu law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing. She has served Planned Parenthood of Hawaii for 20 years, providing counseling and negotiating with Planned Parenthood Federation of America to reaffiliate the Hawaii agency this year.
She is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, and a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University where she majored in American studies.