OFFICE OF DR. LUCIA CIES
465 SAINT MICHAELS DR. # 106
SANTA FE, NM 87505
505-983-1213

TAPE – 720

(Dialing, phone ringing 1x)

CLINIC: Dr. Seiss (ph) office. Can I help you?

CALLER: Hi. Yeah. I was calling to see if you guys do abortions there.

CLINIC: Yes, we do.

CALLER: Do you know how much that cost?

CLINIC: Yeah. Are you planning on paying cash?

CALLER: Well, yeah. My boyfriend said that he would pay for everything in cash.

CLINIC: If you’re under 12 weeks, the cost is $450.

CALLER: Okay. Well, how do you know how many weeks you are?

CLINIC: Do you happen to know the first day of your last normal period?

CALLER: January 3rd.

CLINIC: Okay, yeah. You’re probably well under 12 weeks based on those dates.

CALLER: So how much would it be then?

CLINIC: 450.

CALLER: The thing is, I’m going to be 14 later on this month, and my friend told me that you guys would have to tell my parents.

CLINIC: No.

CALLER: But my boyfriend’s 22. Could he just sign whatever it is?

CLINIC: We don’t have to tell your parents. As long as you’re paying cash, it’s totally — you can do it on your own.

CALLER: Okay.

CLINIC: Did you need to make an appointment?

CALLER: Well, my boyfriend would have to bring me in. I need to see what times you have available?

CLINIC: Okay. Let me look it up here. We offer the procedure Tuesday through Friday. And I have availability Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.

CALLER: What time?

CLINIC: What we do is have you come in the morning first thing at 8 for a work-up. And then we have you come back in the afternoon for your procedure. We don’t know exactly what time in the afternoon until after your morning appointment. It just depends on how many people show up. So you’d kind of need to be prepared to be a little bit flexible in the afternoon.

CALLER: So would it be better if my boyfriend just took the whole day off of work?

CLINIC: Probably better, yeah.

CALLER: Well, I would have to call him. But how much money should he bring?

CLINIC: 450.

CALLER: Would you guys do a pregnancy test before just to make sure?

CLINIC: We do.

CALLER: We just talked about all this. He said that he would pay for everything, but we don’t want anyone to know about us. Would anyone have to know anything if he was paying for it all?

CLINIC: Oh, no, nothing. Yeah, it’s totally confidential.

CALLER: Do you think that there would be any way after the pregnancy test that I wasn’t pregnant?

CLINIC: So you’ve missed a period?

CALLER: Well, I just haven’t had my period since January 3rd. That’s why we’re just really scared.

CLINIC: Yeah. Well, do you use birth control?

CALLER: No.

CLINIC: Yeah. Chances are you’re probably pregnant. It’s certainly possible based on what you’ve told me. There are also other possibilities. I mean, sometimes women just don’t ovulate, and they don’t have a period. Are you feeling any unusual symptoms?

CALLER: Not really.

CLINIC: Any breast tenderness or nausea or anything like that?

CALLER: No. But if I wasn’t pregnant, could I get birth control just so that we don’t have to worry about all this anymore?

CLINIC: Sure.

CALLER: But would you have to tell anybody if I was on birth control though?

CLINIC: Nope, not at all.

CALLER: Okay. Well, how much does it cost for birth control?

CLINIC: It depends on what all you’d like to have done. Usually what we do when we start somebody on birth control is we ask that they do a pap smear.

CALLER: How much does that cost?

CLINIC: The problem with that — I’m thinking out loud here for a second, because I wouldn’t want the lab to bill you for a pap smear unless you were comfortable with that. But it might alert somebody.

CALLER: Well, I can’t have anyone — yeah.

CLINIC: Yeah. Your other option, which would be a lot cheaper for you, would be to go to Planned Parenthood. If you’re not pregnant and you want to get started on birth control, you can go to Planned Parenthood.

CALLER: Oh. But would they have to tell anybody?

CLINIC: No, not at all. They’re very confidential too. Do you go to junior high or high school?

CALLER: Well, I’m homeschooled.

CLINIC: Okay. That would be my suggestion. If you come in and it turns out that you’re not pregnant, I would go to Planned Parenthood.

CALLER: Are they all right there?

CLINIC: Oh, they’re awesome. Yeah. They’re great. And it’s totally private, and it’s really mellow. Yeah, no problem at all.

CALLER: It’s just my boyfriend doesn’t want anybody to know about us, so they’d be all right with that too?

CLINIC: Sure. I mean, as long as you’re all right with it —

CALLER: Well, yeah.

CLINIC: — they’re all right with it. You know what I mean? And you don’t have to tell them that actually. If you’re uncomfortable telling them that, you don’t have to. All you need to do is just go in and say I need birth control; I’m sexually active. That’s all you need to do.

CALLER: Okay. I just with I could talk to my mom like I’m talking to you.

CLINIC: I know.

CALLER: Well, what was your name?

CLINIC: My name’s Nancy.

CALLER: All right.

CLINIC: Okay?

CALLER: Okay. Thanks.

CLINIC: You’re welcome.

CALLER: Bye.

CLINIC: Bye.

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