The following is a transcript of the full video and visit by a Live Action investigator inquiring about and receiving support for a sex-selection abortion at an Austin, Texas Planned Parenthood clinic.
—
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Planned Parenthood South Austin
201 East Ben White Blvd.
Austin, TX 78704
512.276.8000
Speakers:
Planned Parenthood worker Rebecca
Woman seeking sex-selection abortion
FNLI0201_20120411091427.ASF:
000000 Preparation in the car.
004800 Entering clinic.
Woman: I wanted to come in to talk about my options for termination.
010600
PP: Hi, can I help you?
Woman: Hi, um, I called and they said you had walk-in pregnancy counseling for $10.
PP: For a pregnancy test?
Woman: For pregnancy, like, counseling, on my options?
PP: We sure do. Go ahead and sign in.
(Rest of footage is waiting room.)
FNLI0201_20120411093851.ASF
000000 Conversation in waiting room.
013000 Woman is called.
013500 Preparing to take pregnancy test.
022100 Woman is called again. Walking to counseling room.
022600
PP: Okay, have a seat. So, yes, you’re pregnant.
Woman: That’s what I thought, yeah.
022800
PP: And so, what are you aiming more towards? I see that you say that you want to terminate if it’s a girl, so are you just wanting to continue the pregnancy in the meantime, or what?
023100
Woman: Yeah, I think that would be the, um, the plan. I, well, okay, when I went to get the pregnancy test at the pharmacy, I also saw a, um, they have these like gender tests, too, and I took it and it said a girl, but the thing is, I’m not sure how accurate those are, do you know anything about those things?
032800
PP: I didn’t know they had anything like that, that’s like the first time I’ve heard of it.
Woman: I just like noticed I was scanning the pregnancy tests and all that, so–
024100
PP: It goes by your urine?
Woman: It goes by your urine. Yeah.
PP: Wow.
Woman: So the package said 80% effective or whatever. Not “effective,” but 80% chance that it’s accurate.
PP: Mhm.
024500
Woman: So, I guess one of the things I wanted to talk about in terms of the termination–do you think–is it–? We want to get pregnant again after, as soon as we can, obviously, because we’re trying for that boy.
PP: Mhm.
024700
Woman: So if I waited to be–to check the gender, would that be–would the termination then be more dangerous to me or anything like that?
025000
PP: It’s not more dangerous. I mean, there are risks. Let me see. Your last menstrual period was February–
Woman: It might have been the very tail end of January, but–
025600
PP: So right now, that puts you at 10 weeks tomorrow. Almost.
026400
PP: The abortion covers you up until 23 weeks.
Woman: Okay.
PP: So it’s a little over 5 months. Little.
Woman: Okay.
PP: And usually at 5 months is usually when they detect, you know, whether or not it’s a boy or a girl.
Woman: I see.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
PP: So you would be, like, right, sometimes they can tell at four. I mean, I’ve seen that happen, but it just depends.
Woman: Depends?
PP: Mm-hm.
027000
Woman: Is that something you do here?
027300
PP: No, we don’t do anything. I mean, we do ultrasounds, but not, you know, to determine whether or not it’s a boy or a girl. I’m pretty sure you can do that. And I’m pretty sure that they could probably tell you. I haven’t–I don’t see why not; they’re doing the ultrasound. If they can see if it’s a boy or a girl, they’ll do it. But we’ve never had anybody just come in just for that, you know, but I don’t see why not.
028300
Woman: Do you think–there were some friends and different people who’ve like I feel like I’ve been experiencing a little bit of judgment ‘cause they know that, you know, ‘cause I kind of said we would–yeah, and that basically, you know, if it’s a girl, that my husband and I, just, we want two, I already have a girl, so, and we want a boy and a girl.
PP: Mhm.
028500
Woman: And, um, so I feel like worried that–you know, I mean, do you know a doctor who could–do you think I should go and just ask for an ultrasound and just not tell him that I’m gonna terminate if it’s a girl, or–I just feel like there’s been some judgment for my–
028900
PP: Um, I mean, to be honest with you, um, I would probably think so, just because we’ve had even clinicians, I mean, regular doctors that actually have even told women, you know, you can’t go and terminate after you’re 16 weeks. You know? Which is not true, but, you know, they–a lot of doctors, you know–they’ll place judgment because of the fact that the brain is already developed, every–a lot, pretty much everything’s already developed.
Woman: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
029900
PP: And then for you to go and terminate, you know, so usually we tell them, you know, you don’t actually have to say what you’re gonna go do. You know? But you can go to an OB/GYN and start seeing an OB/GYN and go through the whole thing. Then, you know, once you stop, you just stop going to them, you know, to that OB/GYN.
Woman: Right. Just stop going once I terminate?
030500
PP: Right. Which, I mean, personally, from experience, I have done that.
Woman: Okay.
030700
PP: I have actually applied for Medicaid, got on Medicaid, as if I was gonna continue my pregnancy, went through the OB/GYN, and then me and my husband decided we were gonna go ahead and terminate, we terminated, and I still stayed on Medicaid, um, and just got on birth control. Right after I got on birth control, I just stopped using it.
Woman: Right.
PP: We didn’t want it anymore.
Woman: You didn’t use it anymore.
PP: Mhm.
031500
Woman: So, um, so then I could, um–then we could probably, you’re thinking, if we did that, we could probably get pregnant again soon after?
031700
PP: Oh yeah. I’ve had two abortions and I have four kids. (Laughter) Okay, so, again, from experience, no. There’s nothing wrong with getting pregnant immediately afterwards.
032100
Woman: Okay. Alright. Okay. And do you know any ways that we could try more for a boy? I feel like, I don’t want to have to have to have a termination over and over.
032400
PP: Right. You know what? That’s a hard one. I honestly don’t know, ’cause it took me four times before I had my girl. I had three boys.
032700
Woman: Oh my gosh, you had the opposite! (Laughter.)
PP: Yes, and then my fourth one, we didn’t even want it, we were actually gonna terminate, and then we decided not to, and it winded up being my girl, so we were just like, wow, you know? So–
033000
Woman: Yeah. (Laughter.) Okay.
033200
PP: But I mean, I’ve heard people say that there’s like different sex positions, stuff like that, but to say if it’s actually true or accurate, or if it actually works, I have no idea. I’m not sure. From what regular doctors say, it’s basically the men, they’re the ones who choose the gender. So I guess it just depends on what sperm decides to go and whether it’s a boy or a girl.
Woman: So do you think–?
PP: It’s hard.
Woman: It’s hard, yeah.
034100
PP: Me and my husband want to try one more later and go ahead and have five, and I want a girl.
034300
Woman: You want a girl? Haha.
PP:Yeah, I have three boys! If I had another boy, I don’t know what I would do.
034600
Woman: Well, so, okay, so how many–okay, but how many abortions do you think I could have in, let’s say, in–and be safely–cause the thing is, I’m 38. So how many do you think I could have and still be confident of getting pregnant again? Is there a number, or–?
035100
PP: To be honest with you, at that age, I’m not sure. I mean the older you get, the more of a high risk you are. Goodness. If you want, I could go and ask somebody who would actually probably know a lot better than me. That part, I really don’t know.
Woman: That would be super-helpful. Thank you so much.
PP: You’re welcome.
035700
Woman: What was your name again?
PP: Rebecca. Okay, thank you.
036000 Rebecca leaves to ask about fertility issues with abortion for a woman in her late thirties (38).
039300 Rebecca comes back.
Woman: Hi, thank you for checking.
PP: Okay, so what I just found out is that basically we’re not–they don’t do any type of diagnosis. So we don’t diagnose. So we actually wouldn’t be able to say whether or not it’s a boy or a girl, we could say if it’s one or two, but we can’t say if it’s a boy or a girl.
Woman: Okay.
PP: So no matter what, you would have to go to an OB/GYN for that, and then also, again, sorry, they can’t diagnose so I mean they said that we couldn’t say how many abortions you could have as far as, you know, because you’re trying for your boy.
040600
Woman: Okay. So we would–the best thing for us would be to look into those ways maybe we could try for the boy.
PP: Right. I mean, we do offer like OB/GYN, prenatal care provider list.
Woman: Great.
PP: And then, also, this is just pregnancy fact sheets.
Woman: Okay.
041300
PP: You know–it just, it doesn’t really–it just tells you what not to do when you are pregnant.
041600
Woman: Okay, well, I can just take all that. This is really helpful, too. Do you–so these providers would be more, at least more open to me terminating. Um, but do you think I still just shouldn’t worry about telling them that I’m–that I would be terminating if it’s a girl–just kind of–just keep it quiet and then come here?
042200
PP: Right, yeah, I would. I would probably–because more than likely, they could even refuse to continue to see you if you’re just going to terminate. You know what I mean?
Woman: Gotcha. Yeah, I see.
042600 Rebecca starts writing.
Woman: Um–oh, I’ll wait ‘til you’re done.
042900
PP: This is what you could take–are you wanting to possibly get on pregnancy Medicaid to see if you can get, like, a–?
Woman: Yeah, I would. I’d like to try that. We’re self-insured, ‘cause my husband basically is freelance, so–I don’t know if we make too much or not, but–
PP: Well you could definitely try.
Woman: Okay.
043800
PP: So I’m gonna give you this too, as well; this is what you would take to the Medicaid office. This is basically just proof of pregnancy.
044400
Woman: Oh, good, thank you. That’s super. Um, I’m trying to think what my other questions were–so, okay, the other thing I guess I’m struggling with just more on a personal level is these friends. Like, my husband and his family are just totally supportive that we want a boy. But I–I feel like I almost need words or something just to tell to my friends about–I don’t know how to articulate that, um–so that they don’t judge me for choosing to terminate because of the gender of my baby.
FNLI0201_20120411100349.ASF
000000
Woman: Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is, if I do wait like this, you know what I mean?
000300
PP: Have you mentioned that you want to terminate if it’s a girl?
000500
Woman: Well, they pretty much know that–I mean, they know for sure that we’re really trying for a boy, that I do not want another girl, and that we just want a boy and a girl, so, um–I mean, I guess the other thing would be just to say I had a miscarriage or something.
000900
PP: Right. That’s what I was thinking. Um, I mean the only other thing that–
001100 Rebecca gives counseling referrals to woman because they might give her “better words to say to her friends.”
Woman: Thank you so much for being so helpful.
PP: You’re very welcome. There’s a lot of these places that we offer too that, uh, is free counseling.
Woman: Oh, awesome, Okay.
PP: They might give you better choices in words in, as far as your decision. But I also want to give you this, too. This just basically–there’s another form–I think I gave you–”some of your pregnancy options”–let’s see–so whenever you do decide, this one, like I said, covers you up to 23 weeks.
Woman: Oh, okay.
PP: Okay? And it basically just talks about the procedure, what happens during.
Woman: Okay. All right. So, if, um–when did you–? You kind of said around when you thought they could probably see it on the ultrasound–?
003300
PP: When you’re about 5 months–or even almost 5 months–they usually can detect (gender), and uh, you know, going by your last menstrual, that’s just an estimated guess because we’re going by your last menstrual, you would be about twenty-one weeks.
Woman: Okay, can I write that down on here?
PP: Mm-hm. Once you’re five months, you would be around twenty-one weeks.
Woman: And do you have the date that that would be?
PP: I’m getting June the 29th.
Woman: So I could probably see if it was a girl sometime around then, so I should try to get an appointment for an ultrasound before then–because then I would have–
PP: No, no, it’s the twentieth. I’m sorry. June the 22nd? Twenty weeks.
005000
Woman: Okay, I’ll just put June 20th, just ‘cause it’s around there. So then I would want to schedule an ultrasound with an OB around then, and then I would still be able to come back here for a termination if it was a girl.
PP: Mhm. And that would be in July. (Looking at pregnancy wheel.)
Woman: Okay. All right. Okay.
005400
PP: And again, you know, if you go see an OB/GYN, um, you know, pretty soon, and you do an ultrasound to see exactly how far along you are, then you can really detect, “OK, this is how far along I am, this is how–this is when I need to, you know–this is when I need–when I’ll know whether or not it’s a boy or a girl.” So again, you’ll be like 20 weeks – that’s 5 months.
006200
Woman: Okay. Okay.
PP: Okay?
Woman: That is really helpful, thank you for understanding.
PP: You’re welcome.
006300
Woman: I was worried that I would get judgment for terminating because of the gender and you’ve been so–
006400
PP: Oh, no! I’m just trying to, you know, help you as much as possible with this. So you know, you–answer all your questions. I hope I did.
Woman: You did, yeah. Yeah.
006800
PP: Some of the things you might not be able to figure out, like how to tell your friends. I mean it’s, me, personally, I probably wouldn’t have even mentioned it. Just, you know, if it is a girl, then I would have just made it seem like it was a miscarriage or something like that.
Woman: Right.
007300
PP: Some things you probably can’t be too open because there are people out there that’ll place judgment, you know?
Woman: Yeah. Yeah.
007500
PP: And then whenever it does happen, it’s like you could tell them one thing but then they might even just think another, so, what matters is that, you know, you have your family, and you have your husband by your side, and he’s very supportive.
Woman: Yeah.
PP: And that’s what matters the most, because no matter what, he’s who you’re gonna have, in the end.
Woman: Exactly. (Laughter.)
PP: So, um, you know, whether or not they do judge, and that’s pretty much what I can say is just, you know, if they do say anything, just, you still have your family. (Laughs.)
008400
Woman: Yes. My boy and my girl.
008500
PP: Exactly. So just continue and try again!
Woman: Okay, all right. So I will call you back, and–I mean, obviously if it’s a girl I’ll call you back, and if not, then–
PP: Right. And I’ll give you a–let me give you our card so you can have. Um, actually, I forgot; the number’s right here, that you call.
Woman: Oh, okay. Great.
PP: Okay?
Woman: All right.
009000
PP: Well, good luck–
Woman: Thank you!
PP: –and I hope that you do get your boy.
Woman: And I hope you get your girl!
PP: –and that thing that you took over there is incorrect. (Laughter.)
Woman: Thank you. Thank you so much. All right.
015000 Paying for visit.
017000 Leaving clinic.
