I am a patient advocate with Planned Parenthood. It is my job to calm a patient waiting for her abortion procedure, hold her hand, distract her, tell her to breathe during the procedure....whatever it takes to get through the most difficult 10 minutes of her life. If you are interested in what happens in a Planned Parenthood clinic, without the right wing spin, read my diary on the subject here.
More over the fold....
I haven't reported on my experiences in awhile but today was particularly difficult. My fourth patient was a lovely woman in her mid-30's who was in because she knew something about this pregnancy wasn't right. She had been spotting and cramping throughout. She tried to get an appointment with her regular ob/gyn but the doctor had gone out of business without notifying any of her patients. She had insurance but the coverage was not good. Most of the doctor's she contacted did not take her insurance. The rest were not taking new patients. As we all know, malpractice insurance for ob/gyn's is very high and there are fewer physicians for ever more patients. When she finally found a physician who would see her, she could not get an appointment for at least 5 weeks.
She finally made an appointment with Planned Parenthood even though her insurance would not cover her. The ultrasound proved that though she calculated she was at least 11 weeks along, the embryo had stopped growing somewhere around 8 weeks. It was obvious the pregnancy was non-viable. She had been carrying a dead embryo for 3 weeks already. Waiting another 5 weeks for a doctor's appointment opened her to the possibility of infection and complications that could ruin her future chances of having another child.
She scheduled her appointment with us, without the benefit of insurance, because she had to go out of town on business and was afraid that she would miscarry in the middle of the business trip. I must say, she was one of the most stoic patients I've ever seen. She displayed no emotion throughout the procedure and we maintained a running conversation the entire time that touched on any subject but that at hand. Yet the undercurrent of pain and mourning was there, unspoken.
So I witnessed 5 abortions today. Then I went out to listen to some music and I found myself in tears somewhere in the middle of the first set.
My patient didn't have to run the gamut of clinic protester's before coming in today. In my neck of the woods, those who speak for Jesus reserve the special love they feel for patient's like the one I've described for the forty days of Lent. It is only then that they spew their venom and bile on some of the least deserving of our society.
In the end, I'm not sure what this diary is about. Am I angry at the people who protest clinics when they have no idea what goes on inside? Am I angry at the health care system that leaves a woman like this high and dry?
All I know is when I have days like this I HOPE above anything else that the stranglehold conservatives have had on this country is almost over.
Women deserve better.