PLANNED PARENTHOOD
PO BOX 372
SPENCER, IA 51301
712-262-1545

TAPE – 188

(dialing sounds) (ringing 3X)

CLINIC: Thank you for calling Planned Parenthood. This is Mindy. How may I help you?

CALLER: Hi. I was wondering if you guys do abortions there?

CLINIC: No, we don’t.

CALLER: Do you know of anyone that would?

CLINIC: The Sioux Falls Planned Parenthood.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Performs terminations.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Sioux City and Des Moines Planned Parenthoods also do them.

CALLER: Okay. Well, do you have the phone number for them?

CLINIC: Which one would you like?

CALLER: Just the — I guess the Sioux Falls one.

CLINIC: Okay, let’s see here. It’s 605-361-6100.

CALLER: Okay. Well, do you know —

CLINIC: I’m sorry, that’s a 5. It’s 5100.

CALLER: 5100?

CLINIC: Yeah.

CALLER: Oh, all right. Okay. Well, my friend told me that you guys have to tell my parents before I can have an abortion. Is that true?

CLINIC: Are you under 18?

CALLER: I’ll be 14 in March.

CLINIC: Oh, yeah, um-hum. You have to have — let’s see. Actually if you have it in the state of Iowa there is a parental notification law.

CALLER: Really?

CLINIC: And that means your parents have to be notified. Otherwise, you have the choice of going through a judicial bypass, which is going before a judge. He has to consider whether he feels like you’re a mature, you know, a mature adult in your decision-making and that kind of thing, and decide whether you can decide this on your own without contacting your parents. So you either have to contact your parents — they don’t have to give permission for it, but you have to contact them.

CALLER: They have to tell them? Like they can’t find out at all because like, well the problem is —

CLINIC: It’s not, it can’t happen because no — it’s illegal to do that for a minor without parental notification in Iowa.

CALLER: But they can’t find out because like, well my boyfriend’s 22, and we’re in love and everything, but we’re going to get married, but like my parents hate him because they think he’s too old for me, and they can’t find out at all.

CLINIC: Okay. But you know, I think you just probably should calla the center, you know, that I gave you, because South Dakota law may be — I don’t remember if it’s consent or notification, but all of the states in the surrounding area are either consent or notification. So, and it’s illegal for a center like that to perform an abortion on a minor without either going through that legal process, the judicial bypass that I talked about, or —

CALLER: What does that mean?

CLINIC: Okay. Like I said, it would probably be better if you called one of the centers because they go through that every day, and they’d be able to help you probably better than I can. But what that is, is it’s an option for you to go before a judge. He would listen to the case. He would decide whether he thinks you are mature enough to make the decision to have an abortion or not. And he may grant you permission. He may not. It just depends on the judge that you get and how he feels about your situation. And then your parents would not be notified.

CALLER: Oh, okay.

CLINIC: But you do need to go through the bypass in order to do that if you don’t want to notify your parents.

CALLER: Okay. Well, my boyfriend just doesn’t want anybody to know about us at all, so like —

CLINIC: Yeah. And you know, that’s something you’re going to need to talk to somebody. And what — can you tell me, where are you calling him, again?

CALLER: My boyfriend?

CLINIC: Your boyfriend. Did you call him — does he live with you or —

CALLER: No.

CLINIC: Okay.

CALLER: I live with my parents.

CLINIC: Okay. Because of your age, you know, there is a — I’m sure there’s a — is he concerned about legally his — he could be in some trouble?

CALLER: I don’t know.

CLINIC: Yeah, because you know there is — you know there are some laws that — you know, you would need to talk to somebody about that too, and you know, if you went before a judge you wouldn’t have to tell him your boyfriend, you wouldn’t have to include him as far as telling them who he is, how old he is. But they may ask you that. I’m not going to say they’re not going to. I don’t really know. They ask the questions they want to ask and you can answer them. You know, that’s just the way it is.

CALLER: What laws are you talking about? Like —

CLINIC: Well, you know, I don’t want to get into — I don’t, I don’t know your situation well enough and I don’t want to say. But I just — someone’s got to know about it. You can’t — no one is going to perform a termination for you, okay, with you just going there.

CALLER: Well, is it okay if we can come in and talk to you?

CLINIC: You bet, uh-huh, and I can give you as much information as I have here. You can, you know, get you started, that thing. But you know, really the centers that really do a good job with that would be like Sioux City and Des Moines because they help a lot of, I wouldn’t say a lot of minors but they have helped minors before.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: They can’t tell their parents then they can help you go through that bypass, yes. Um-hum. Have you had a pregnancy test done somewhere?

CALLER: No.

CLINIC: No. Okay, so that would be the first thing to start with because maybe you’re not even pregnant.

CALLER: Well, would you guys have to tell my parents about that?

CLINIC: No.

CALLER: You wouldn’t have to tell anybody at all?

CLINIC: No.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Everything here would be confidential.

CALLER: So if like my boyfriend and I came in you guys could talk to us and you wouldn’t have to tell anybody that we were there?

CLINIC: That’s correct. Um-hum. Yep.

CALLER: Okay. Well, like if I — like after the pregnancy test there, could you guys — like if it was negative or whatever, could you guys — do you do birth control there?

CLINIC: Yes, we do, um-hum.

CALLER: And would you guys have to tell anybody about that?

CLINIC: No. No. It’s just, it’s just the law right now that we do have to notify parents for abortions. That is the only thing we have to notify a parent for, okay?

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: That’s the only law that’s on the books at this point. So as far as being a minor, you can always come in and have an exam. You could come in and have pregnancy testing. You can come have screening for infections including like if you ever had a yeast infection or maybe feel like you could have a sexually shared infection, those things. Birth control. You can come here and we encourage you to talk to your parents about it.

CALLER: Oh.

CLINIC: Okay? But we would not tell your parents that you were here.

CALLER: Okay. So it’s all right if like my boyfriend and I come in and talk to you, and you guys wouldn’t have to tell anybody?

CLINIC: Right. That’s correct.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Um-hum.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: But now if you want to come in, I’d really like it if you would make an appointment.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Because then that would be helpful for us because if we’re seeing other patients you may have to wait or — you know. And it’s easier for us to get you back and save time to talk to you if we know you’re coming.

CALLER: Okay. Well, is it all right if I call him and see when he can —

CLINIC: You bet. Um-hum. And we’re open later on Mondays.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Too if that helps you.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Okay?

CALLER: Thanks.

CLINIC: All righty. Bye bye.

CALLER: Bye.

(phone clicks)

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