REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES OF AUSTIN
4804 GROVER RD.
AUSTIN, TX 78756
512-458-8274
TAPE – 792
(Dialing, phone ringing 1x)
CLINIC: Reproductive Services. Can you hold please?
CALLER: Well, do you guys do abortions there?
CLINIC: Yeah, we do.
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: Okay. Hold on.
(Short pause)
CLINIC: — holding. How can I help you?
CALLER: Yeah. I was wanting to see how much it cost to get an abortion.
CLINIC: Okay. For a first trimester abortion it is $425.
CALLER: How do you know if you’re —
CLINIC: That is through the 13th week of the pregnancy. So 13 weeks from the first day of your last period.
CALLER: Oh. Well, that was January 3rd.
CLINIC: Okay. Well then, that is within the first trimester. It’s $425. There are some additional costs for medications that are required after the procedure as well as optional medications that you may choose to take during the procedure.
CALLER: Okay. My main concern is I’m worried. I’m going to be 14 later on this month, and my friend told me that you guys would have to tell my parents. But my boyfriend’s 22. Is he old enough to take care of it, and you wouldn’t have to tell anybody?
CLINIC: Actually, there’s a couple things — yeah. Because you are under 14 years old, we would have to notify your parents before the procedure. There’s a couple ways we can do that. Now, if you do not want your parents notified, you can go through a process called judicial bypass.
CALLER: How does that work?
CLINIC: Why don’t you hold on one second, and I’m going to have you speak to either Dorothy or Sarah. And they’re the people here that work with women who are under 18 years old.
CALLER: What was your name?
CLINIC: My name is Linda. And I’ll have Dorothy or Sarah be with you in just one moment, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: Thank you.
CLINIC: Hi. This is Dorothy.
CALLER: Hi. Yeah. I was wondering about getting a judicial bypass. I’m going to be 14 later on this month, and my friend told me that you have to tell my parents. But my boyfriend’s 22. Is he old enough to take care of it, and you wouldn’t have to tell anybody?
CLINIC: No. Because he’s not a legal guardian of yours, he actually can’t have any say as far as with the procedure. But you don’t plan on telling your parents?
CALLER: Right. They can’t find out at all.
CLINIC: Okay. What you think will kind of go on if they do?
CALLER: I don’t know. They’d be furious. I mean, they know my boyfriend and they know we’re going out. He works with my dad, but they don’t like him because they think he’s too old for me. But they know him, and they know we’re going out. But they don’t know we’re having sex. I mean, if they knew about that, I don’t know what they would do. I mean, they’d be furious. They can’t find out at all.
CLINIC: Okay. Well, we can go through the judicial bypass. And that’s basically where you go to see a judge.
CALLER: I’ve never seen a judge before.
CLINIC: Yeah. I know. And it’s kind of scary too for girls who’ve never had to go through that. Do you live in Austin?
CALLER: I live in Round Rock.
CLINIC: In Round Rock? Okay. Well, most likely you’ll come to court here, and your attorney will help you do everything. And most of the girls that we see in Travis County, which is in the Austin area, haven’t been turned down.
CALLER: How much does it cost for an attorney?
CLINIC: It’s not going to be any cost to you.
CALLER: Oh, okay,
CLINIC: Yeah, whatsoever. All we need you to do is — do you have like a way that you can get around and stuff like that?
CALLER: Well, my boyfriend drives me.
CLINIC: If you guys come visit our clinic at a time that’s good for you, I can give you all the papers that you would need to come see the judge along with the list of attorneys and get you set up for all that if that’s what you want to do.
CALLER: Are you guys open tomorrow?
CLINIC: Uh-huh.
CALLER: What time?
CLINIC: We can either see about going that route with the judicial bypass or you can provide me with a phone number or address to contact your parents by phone or by certified letter. So however you want to do it.
CALLER: Well, I can’t talk to them. I don’t want you to contact them.
CLINIC: Right, right. Do you want to do the judicial bypass?
CALLER: Yeah.
CLINIC: What time do you think you can come in tomorrow?
CALLER: When are you guys open?
CLINIC: I’ll be here from about 9 ’til probably 4:30.
CALLER: Okay. Will you be there during lunch ?
CLINIC: Oh, of course.
CALLER: Okay. So I could come like on my boyfriend’s lunch break or whatever?
CLINIC: Yeah, you could do that. Are you in school or anything?
CALLER: Well, I’m homeschooled.
CLINIC: You’re homeschooled? Okay. What’s your first name?
CALLER: Lisa.
CLINIC: Lisa?
CALLER: Yeah.
CLINIC: What’s your last name, Lisa?
CALLER: Carter.
CLINIC: So when you come in what we’re going to do is I’m going to give you what we call a minor packet. That’s where it lists — we’re going to kind of sit down and talk about it, so you might be here for about 15 minutes, okay?
CALLER: All right.
CLINIC: We’re going to kind of sit down and talk about what’s in the papers, what the judge might talk to you about, and have you watch a short film. Nothing scary or graphic that would freak you out whatsoever; it’s just an informative film, okay?
CALLER: All right.
CLINIC: But as far as going through with the abortion procedure, that’s definitely what you want to do?
CALLER: Yeah.
CLINIC: Yeah?
CALLER: Me and my boyfriend, that’s all we talk about now. But he’s a great guy, and we’re going to be married soon. But he has to finish school and stuff. So we just can’t have a kid until after that. So that’s we were wanting to get an abortion, because we can’t have a kid right now.
CLINIC: And when did you say you were turning 19th?
CALLER: On the 19th.
CLINIC: On the 19th of this month?
CALLER: Yeah.
CLINIC: Do you know about how far along you are?
CALLER: Well, not really. My last period was January 3rd.
CLINIC: Okay. Well, when you come in, we can also do a sonogram, okay? And the cost for the sonogram is going to be $25. When you come back to us for the actual procedure, we’ll deduct the cost from the procedure. So we can do all of that tomorrow when you come in.
CALLER: Well, if my boyfriend was paying for all this — like he said he would pay cash for everything, it’s just we don’t want anyone to know about us — would he have to sign anything or have his name on any of the forms?
CLINIC: No. He would not have to sign or have his name on any of the forms whatsoever. I’m going to have you hold just one moment so I can get some information from you, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
(Very short pause)
CLINIC: Okay, Lisa. Now one thing that we do need to look at– in the state of Texas, if you are 13 years old and you are pregnant, that has to be reported.
CALLER: What do you mean?
CLINIC: It has to be reported to Child Protective Services.
CALLER: Oh.
CLINIC: Okay?
CALLER: Well, what could happen?
CLINIC: But if you come in — because you’re about to be 14, so that law will change. But when you come in, we will also have to make a report because your partner is over three years older than you.
CALLER: Well, I can’t do that. What would happen?
CLINIC: But the thing is, you’re not required to give us any information, okay? You don’t have to tell me his name. You don’t have to tell me where he lives, a phone number. I don’t have to know anything. Then it won’t be on anything.
CALLER: So you’re sure that I don’t have to tell you that?
CLINIC: I can ask you a hundred times, and you can not tell me a hundred times. But by law we do have to find that out.
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: Okay. But you don’t have to tell me, so don’t worry about that. I’m just trying to let you know the law, okay? And we do this all the time. We just try to explain it to you so that you understand, but you don’t have to tell us anything, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: So all we’re going to do tomorrow is have you come in — and it’s fine if he comes with you. I mean, we’re not going to ask him anything. We’ll let you sit with him. Don’t worry about it. He can go through the ultra sound with you if you want him to. But we’re not going to ask him for i.d. or anything else, okay?
Tomorrow what we’ll do is we’ll have you come in. You’ll pay the $25 to have your ultra sound done because you’ll need it to take to court with you. And then I’ll give you all the papers and numbers for some attorneys that you can call, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: You said your last menstrual period was when?
CALLER: January 3rd. But the attorneys wouldn’t say anything about my boyfriend either?
CLINIC: They shouldn’t. Again, you’re a minor, so you don’t have to give any information to the law. Because being a minor, you’re considered kind of like a Jane Doe. Nobody can know your name or any of that type of stuff. I mean, your attorney will and we will here at the clinic, but when it comes to the judge and everything else — at this point, any information about your boyfriend I would just leave alone.
CALLER: Oh, okay.
CLINIC: As far as letting people know his age and things like that. He’s just your boyfriend, and then leave it at that. Okay?
CALLER: Okay. Well, do you think it’s possible that I’m not pregnant though? I mean, I haven’t had a pregnancy test yet.
CLINIC: Well, we can do that here.
CALLER: Really?
CLINIC: Yeah.
CALLER: How long does it take for that?
CLINIC: If you want to do it as soon as you walk in, we can do it — it will take like five minutes for us to run. It won’t be long at all.
CALLER: And I would know right away?
CLINIC: Uh-huh. We would tell you right then. And if we do get a positive, we’ll go ahead and continue with the sonogram and all the paperwork. If we get a negative, then we’ll just stop everything right there.
CALLER: Well, could I get birth control if I wasn’t pregnant?
CLINIC: You wouldn’t be able to get it that day, but we could go over it with you and make an appointment for you if that’s what you wanted to do. We can definitely leave you with some condoms at least to get started on though.
CALLER: How much does it cost for birth control after I make an appointment or whatever?
CLINIC: Well, we have to do your pap smear. So in order for us to do your pap smear, if you’ve never been here before, it’s going to be $96.
CALLER: Well, it’s just me and my boyfriend don’t want to have to go through all this again.
CLINIC: Exactly. That’s definitely understandable. But, yeah. Once you get here, I’ll give you all this information, and we can kind of figure it out from there, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: What year were you born in?
CALLER: 1988. Let me call my boyfriend real quick, and I’ll call you back. Is that all right?
CLINIC: Yeah, that’s no problem. But even if you don’t get a chance to come back, I’m going to see you — what time would be best for you to come in tomorrow?
CALLER: Probably first thing. But I have to call my boyfriend to make sure it’s okay with him because he’s the one that would take me.
CLINIC: Okay. Then just call me back. And, Lisa, again, my name is Dorothy, okay?
CALLER: But could I go like at lunch time you think maybe?
CLINIC: Yeah, that should be fine. Okay?
CALLER: All right. Let me talk to him. All right.
CLINIC: Okay.
CALLER: Okay. Thanks.
CLINIC: Uh-huh. Bye.
CALLER: Bye.
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