INTERMOUNTAIN PLANNED PARENTHOOD
721 N. 29TH ST.
BILLINGS, MT 59101
406-245-6075

TAPE – 367

(Dialing, phone ringing 2x)

CLINIC: Outpatient Surgical Services. May I help you?

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

CLINIC: We do.

CALLER: Okay. Well, do you know how much that cost?

CLINIC: Well, it depends on a couple of different factors. I need to ask you some questions, okay?

CALLER: All right.

CLINIC: Is it for you?

CALLER: Yeah.

CLINIC: And how do you know you’re pregnant?

CALLER: Well, I missed my period. My last period was December 14th.

CLINIC: Okay. That was my next question. Are you pretty regular most of the time?

CALLER: Most of the time.

CLINIC: So right now today you would be at about the end of the ninth or the beginning of the tenth week, and you would have gotten pregnant around December 28th or 29th, somewhere around in there.

What city are you in?

CALLER: I live in Valentine.

CLINIC: Okay. So you would be coming to the Billings Clinic?

CALLER: Yeah.

CLINIC: And how old are you.

CALLER: I’ll be 14 in March.

CLINIC: Okay. Are your parents aware?

CALLER: No. They can’t find out at all. I can’t tell them. My boyfriend’s 22, and they don’t like him. They just think he’s too old for me. But if they found out that we were having sex, I don’t know what would happen.

CLINIC: Um-hmm. And is he aware that you’re pregnant?

CALLER: Yeah. He was the one that gave me your number.

CLINIC: Okay. Is he going to help you pay for it?

CALLER: Yeah. He said he was taking care of everything.

CLINIC: The earliest that I could schedule you would be in the middle of March.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: And tell me again the first day of your last period.

CALLER: It was December 14th.

CLINIC: And I said that right now today you were at the end of the 9th, the 10th. By the time we could see you, you would be in the 13th or 14th week. And at that period of time — do you have any income yourself? You’re not working.

CALLER: No, I don’t have a job.

CLINIC: Okay. No insurance? And you’re not on Medicaid.

CALLER: Right.

CLINIC: For a procedure in the 13th through the 15th week the fee would be $670. Have you been to a clinic or seen a doctor or a nurse for pregnancy?

CALLER: No.

CLINIC: We would need to do an ultra sound when you come in — if you’re pretty certain about when your last period was.

CALLER: Yeah.

CLINIC: Okay. We will do an ultra sound when you first come in, and that will be $70. We need to know what the RH factor of your blood is. That’s part of your blood type. And RH factor is usually positive or negative. If you’re negative, it can have an impact on future pregnancies, so we need to know that. And just for that it’s $10. And we do a blood test in every pregnancy called hematocrit that measures the number of red blood cells in your blood and determines whether you’re anemic or not. And that will be $5. And there’s a test for a sexually transmitted disease called chlamydia, and that is 25. And based on the outcome of your RH test, if your blood is negative, there would be an extra charge of $80 for that. And it’s always a good idea to bring some extra money just in case something comes up. And I have not been adding this up.

CALLER: Okay. My boyfriend doesn’t want anybody to know. Would you guys have to tell anybody anything at all?

CLINIC: No, we don’t. However, because you’re 14 we would request that you have someone other than your boyfriend who is of age come with you and be responsible for you medically and financially.

CALLER: Oh. Well, he said that he was going to take care of everything. I don’t know of anyone else that could do it.

CLINIC: Do you have a female relative who’s older, an aunt or a sister or a cousin?

CALLER: No.

CLINIC: How about his mom?

CALLER: No. He doesn’t live with his parents.

CLINIC: Okay. A friend, a teacher, a counselor?

CALLER: No. I’m homeschooled.

CLINIC: Well, in order for us to schedule it for you we do need to have an adult other than your boyfriend who will be responsible for you medically and financially, even though he is taking care of everything. That is just our clinic policy. So you need to talk it over with him.

CALLER: Okay. Well, I could probably find somebody. But if we bring cash it’s all okay?

CLINIC: We do not accept personal checks, but we do accept everything else, including cash. And you do need to pay at the time that you come in for your first appointment. You would be coming in for three appointments all together over a period of two days. Your first appointment would be on the afternoon of the first day, and then you would have two appointments the following day. One would be early in the morning, and the other one would be later in the morning or early afternoon.

CALLER: Okay. Well, after this is all done and stuff, could I get birth control so that we don’t have to go through all this again?

CLINIC: You sure can. As a matter of fact, we’re not going to let you out the door without giving you something.

CALLER: Okay. But you guys wouldn’t have to tell anybody that I was on birth control?

CLINIC: Uh-uh, no.

CALLER: And you wouldn’t have to say anything about my boyfriend?

CLINIC: For what?

CALLER: Well, I don’t know. Just to anybody at all.

CLINIC: No. That’s all your business.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Okay? Does that help? Why don’t you talk with him and see if you can find someone besides him who can be responsible for you. And then give us a call back, and we’ll get you scheduled in. We need to do that pretty soon because we’re booking out a month ahead.

CALLER: So what was your name so that I could call you back?

CLINIC: Well, you can talk to anybody who answers the phone.

CALLER: All right.

CLINIC: Okay? We’re all interchangeable here. And it does take about 10 or 15 minutes on the phone to set up the appointment.

CALLER: Well, you were just so nice, I don’t know that I really want to talk to anybody else.

CLINIC: We’re all nice here (chuckle). Take my word for it. That’s what we’re in business for. Okay?

CALLER: All right.

CLINIC: Okay?

CALLER: All right. Thanks.

CLINIC: Good luck. Bye.

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