Listen to the Call:
Transcript:
PLANNED PARENTHOOD – WOMEN’S HEALTH SERVICES
PITTSBURGH, PA 15222
412-562-1910
TAPE – 651
(Dialing, phone ringing 1x)
CLINIC: Good morning, Planned Parenthood, Women’s Health Services. This is Joyce. May I help you?
CALLER: Hi. Yeah. I was calling to see if you guys do abortions there.
CLINIC: Yes, we do, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
CALLER: How much does that cost?
CLINIC: Well, it depends how far along you are. But what was the first day of your last normal period?
CALLER: January 3rd.
CLINIC: January 3rd??
CALLER: Uh-huh.
CLINIC: Okay. All right, let’s take a look here. And that’s when it started, correct?
CALLER: Right.
CLINIC: All right. Right now you are between eight and nine weeks. The fee up to 12 weeks is $365.
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: Are you covered by any insurance?
CALLER: Well, my boyfriend said that he would pay for everything.
CLINIC: And how old are you?
CALLER: I’m going to be 14 on March 20th. Would you have to tell my parents?
CLINIC: Yes, you do. You have to.
CALLER: My boyfriend’s 22. Could he just sign whatever it is?
CLINIC: It has nothing to do with your boyfriend and how old he is. It has to do with you and the state law. The state law requires that you come with a mother or father. And they have to prove that they’re your mother or father. So you need to talk to a parent.
CALLER: But I can’t talk to them. I mean, they can’t find out at all.
CLINIC: Okay. Then we would have to go through a judicial bypass.
CALLER: What is that?
CLINIC: You would have to come in for a visit prior to the abortion. That would be 120 at that visit, and that would be applied to your abortion. You would talk to one of our counselors who would give you all the information about going to court. You would have to go to court to receive a bypass from the judge there.
CALLER: Well, do I need a lawyer?
CLINIC: No. No, you don’t.
CALLER: How much does it cost for the bypass thing?
CLINIC: As I said, it’s $120, but that would be applied to your abortion fee.
CALLER: Oh, all right.
CLINIC: And the next day we could see you would be on Friday or Saturday.
CALLER: Well, does the judge ever say no?
CLINIC: I don’t know. I don’t know if they have in Allegheny County or not. I don’t believe so.
CALLER: Oh, really?
CLINIC: But they will ask you some questions, and of course why you want to do this, and why you have not been able to talk to a parent about it.
CALLER: Well, they just don’t ever listen to me. I mean, they never understand anything.
CLINIC: Well, I would be very upset if my 14-year-old were pregnant to a 22-year-old. So I can understand them being upset about it. But then after the upset being over, do you think they would come around and be reasonable after they screamed at you for a while?
CALLER: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, they’d be furious. They know my boyfriend, and they know we’re going out, but they have no idea we’re having sex. I mean, if they found out about that, I don’t know what would happen let alone being pregnant.
CLINIC: I’m not sure why they’re allowing a 14-year-old to date a 22-year-old. Hold on a second.
CALLER: Okay.
(Pause)
CLINIC: But by any token we could bring you in on either Friday or Saturday. Do you know which day you’d like to come in?
CALLER: Well, I don’t know. I have to call my boyfriend. He’d be the only way I could get there.
CLINIC: Right, exactly. Well, call and talk to him and see what he has to say. That appointment would definitely be in the morning. Okay?
CALLER: But you wouldn’t have to tell anybody about my boyfriend though?
CLINIC: Would we tell anyone?
CALLER: Right.
CLINIC: No.
CALLER: Oh, okay.
CLINIC: No.
CALLER: So it’s all right if he’s there with me?
CLINIC: Yes. Now, he can’t come back into the clinic, but he can be at the clinic at the outer waiting room waiting for you.
CALLER: Oh, okay. Well, if it turned out that I wasn’t pregnant, could I get birth control there?
CLINIC: We would be sending you to our parent company Planned Parenthood on Ninth Street. You have not had a positive pregnancy test then?
CALLER: No.
CLINIC: Okay. Well, then we couldn’t schedule anything anyway. You have to have done that first.
CALLER: Oh, all right.
CLINIC: You have to have had a positive pregnancy test for us to schedule you with anything.
CALLER: But do you guys do that there?
CLINIC: I’m sorry? Yes. You can come in, but that would be something separate. You can come in tomorrow with your first morning urine, and we could run a pregnancy test on it.
CALLER: What time?
CLINIC: Between 9 and 2.
CALLER: Oh, okay. So if I had any other questions, could I call you? What was your name?
CLINIC: My name’s Joyce. You can talk to anyone though because I may not be in here whenever you call back, okay?
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: So you can talk to anyone about more information. But the first thing you have to do is to have a pregnancy test done.
CALLER: Okay.
CLINIC: Okay?
CALLER: All right. You wouldn’t have to tell anybody about a pregnancy test?
CLINIC: No, no. Everything is very confidential.
CALLER: All right. Thank you.
CLINIC: Okay, hon. Bye bye.
CALLER: Bye.
***END***