Sex Selection in America Part 2
NEW YORK, May 31 — Today, Live Action released a new undercover video showing Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger clinic in New York City helping a woman determine if her unborn child was female so she could have a sex-selection abortion. The video is second in a new series titled “Gendercide: Sex-Selection in America,” exposing the practice of sex-selective abortion in the
United States and how Planned Parenthood and the rest of the abortion industry facilitate the selective
elimination of baby girls in the womb.
Transcript
PP NYC Full footage transcript
Features:
-Woman
-PP Social Worker Randi, LMSW
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013000 Lini enters clinic, in waiting room for the rest of the file
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Woman enters bathroom to adjust costume and equipment
007300 Woman sees girl crying on floor with a PP staffer attending to her. Woman asks girl next to her what happened.
008500
“Go up to the third floor, and the social worker will come to get you.”
“Ok. Is it Randi?”
“Yes.”
010000 Woman exits elevator and enters third floor waiting room.
023500 Woman enters bathroom to adjust again
031600
Woman: Yes. Hi! Are you Randi?
PP: I am.
Woman: Randi, I am so sorry about earlier.
PP: That’s ok, it’s nice to meet you.
Woman: It’s so great to meet you, too. Thanks for fitting me in.”
032100
PP: Yeah, so, um, I just want to let you know before we start, because it’s already 3:30 and I know you’ve been waiting like 20 minutes, and I was been seeing a patient, I probably only have until about 4 to see you.
“That’s fine, I think that should be sufficient.”
PP: And if we need more time afterwards, we could always reschedule-
Woman: Schedule it. Yeah.
PP: And have you come back.
Woman: Yeah, that’s great. Thanks, Randi.
032800
PP: So I know you went to the–
Woman: Bronx clinic.
PP: Yeah, you were in the Bronx and did a pregnancy test there.
Woman: I did, and so, what it was, was we were closer to the Bronx clinic and I found out about the Bronx clinic after I made my appointment here and I thought, “Oh, I can maybe get my questions answered there,” and then I found out that they don’t even do abortions after, I think it was 12 or 14 weeks.
033400
PP: Yeah, they only go up to about 12 or 13 weeks.
Woman: Yeah.
PP: At our Bronx and Brooklyn locations, um, do up to about 12, 13 weeks. Here at this location, we do procedures up to 24.
Woman: That’s what I understand, so that’s why I was like, “Oh, gosh, I still have to make it over here!” So, thank you.
PP: Sure, so, how can I help you? Tell me what questions I can answer for you.
Woman: Yeah. No, that would be great. Um, basically, I’m curious first of all just kind of about the risks of the procedure–I’ve never had a surgical procedure before.
PP: Okay. Uhuh. Have you had an abortion in the past?
Woman: I did. I had a medical.
PP: Okay.
Woman: About 4 years ago.
PP: Okay.
Woman: Yeah. It was right after the birth of my daughter, and we weren’t ready to have another one right away.
PP: Right.
Woman: So, um, [inaudible] I haven’t had a surgical and I’m curious about some of the challenges that might come with that, and risks, and if you can first tell me if it, there are dangers to the procedure?
PP: Ok, so, just to back up a minute, how far along in your pregnancy are you?”
“I’m 12 weeks.”
“You’re 12 weeks. OK. And–”
“Yeah ‘cause I think they did that on the wheel. I was, um, my last period would have been, I think, January 17th or so.
035800 “Okay, and yeah, I could check too, but that sounds appropriate. And have you decided, you know, have you definitely decided that you would like to terminate your pregnancy?”
036000 “Well, that was actually one of the reasons I was hoping to talk to you.”
“Mhmm.” Randi smiles and nods.
“Because, basically, as I mentioned, we’ve actually, we already have a daughter.”
“Right. Are you married?”
“Yeah, oh, yeah. I am – been married for about 7 years now.”
“Ok.”
036700 “So, but we have a daughter, and after her birth and that abortion I went on birth control, I went on the Pill, and just came off of it last fall, because really, we decided, you know, we’ve had a daughter, we’d really like to have a son, so we’ve been working on, you know, trying at that – which, the fun is in trying anyway.”
“Uhuh.” (smiles)
037200 “But, um, I found out I was pregnant, and are you familiar at all with IntelliGender?”
“No.”
037500 “It’s an over-the-counter test, we found out that it looks like it’s gonna be a girl, another girl.”
“Mhmm.” Smiling, with finger over her mouth.
037800 “So, you know, we’re like, “Ok, here we are again.” You know, it’s not really, it’s not what we’re looking for right now.”
“Mhmm.”
038000 “So, I guess, one of the things that I’m–”
038100 “What is, what is that test?”
038170 “It’s–I don’t know how it works. I did a lot of, um, reading online, and they say that it’s pretty accurate, like 90% accurate.”
038380 “It’s sold over the counter?”
038400 “Yeah. Kind of like a pregnancy test, you pee into the cup, and it, you know, it notifies you whether it’s a boy or a girl. They say it start–it works after 10 weeks.”
038700 “Mhmm.”
“So.”
“Never heard of it before. I have no idea how accurate that is.”
038800 “The, uh–Ok, well that’s interesting. You haven’t had any clients that have used that before?”
039000 “No, not that I know of. I’m also a social worker and not a medical provider, so, you know, so from my role here that isn’t something I’ve ever heard of.”
039500 “I see, well, do you–you do abortions up to how long here?”
039500 “24 weeks.”
“24.”
039600 “Uhuh.”
“Do you know at what stage generally they tell on an ultrasound?”
038700 “What–how–at what point in pregnancy you can tell the sex of the, of the pregnancy?”
039900 “Yeah. Exactly.”
040000 “You know, it depends on what kind of testing, prenatal testing, you’re doing. So if you were to have what’s called a CVS test, which is, do you know what that is?”
“No.”
040300 “So, a CVS and an amniocentesis are two very similar tests.
Woman: Mhm.
PP: A CVS test is done between 11 and 13 weeks of pregnancy.
[1] Woman: Okay.
PP: It basically tests, you know, it’s a genetic test that’s done to check for–
Woman: Mhm. Defects.
PP: Any type of abnormalities, Down Syndrome, Trisomy–
Woman: Right.
PP: All that sort of stuff, tests for pretty much the same stuff that an amnio does, but it’s just done earlier in your pregnancy. An amnio is done around 16 weeks, this is between 11 and 13. And either of those tests can confirm–
Woman: Can confirm.
PP: Can tell you what the sex of the pregnancy is.”
041580 “Ok.”
041600 “By sonogram, from what I understand, it’s more between 18 to 20 weeks–
Woman: “I see.”
PP: “That you can tell the sex, certainly by 20, but somewhere around 18 is when on a sonogram you can check, you can tell the sex of the pregnancy.”
042000 “Now, are the previous two tests that you mentioned, are those definitive?”
042100 “Yeah.” (nodding, smiling.)
042100 “Like, there’s no guess work there?”
042200 “Uhuh!”
042300 “See, I haven’t had either of those done.”
042360 “Mhm. They’re tests that are normally recommended for women who are, you know, um over 35.”
042500 “OK. That’s probably why, I’m only 28.”
042500 “Right. Because it’s, uh–it doesn’t mean that they will only do them, you know, for women over 35, just as part of prenatal care, they’re the tests that are normally done–”
Woman: “Mhm.”
PP: “Or recommended because the chance of a genetic abnormality really increases after 35.”
043100 “As you get older. Yeah. Which is why we’re trying now, we want to make sure we get our boy in here before, you know, there are risks like that, you know, as I get older.”
043380 “Right. So, I mean, but that’s not to say if–do you have a prenatal–do you have an OB/GYN doctor you’re seeing–?”
043500 “No, actually I don’t because we just recently moved to New York.
PP: OK.
Woman: And then found out I’m pregnant, and we’re in the middle of everything, and the move, and I haven’t even been able to find the doctor who I trust to kind of help guide me through this yet.”
044000 “Mhm.”
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Randi: “[You’re] from L.A.?”
Woman: “Yeah.”
000100 “And so your son–or, I’m sorry, I mean your daughter –you delivered in L.A. In California?”
000200 “Yeah, yeah.”
000270 “Um, do you guys have insurance?”
000300 “We do, um, you know, for the procedure, we were planning on paying out of pocket.”
“Ok. For the abortion. Ok.”
“Mhm.”
000600 “OK. For prenatal care, obviously, it’s useful to have, you know, to use your private insurance.”
Woman: Right, use the insurance.
PP: “And I can, you know, if you’re looking for someone for prenatal care I can try to recommend someone if you know what insurance you have.”
001100 “I’d have to ask my husband, it’s all handled, he handles all of that.”
001200 “OK.”
001400 “Um, so I guess, would a prenatal doctor then be able to then do the test for me, like do they do the tests, those tests that you talked about, the CVS and amnio–”
001600 “The CVS and the–yeah, either one. So you would have one or the other.”
Woman: OK.
PP: And, um, so, some of the, some OB/GYN doctors I believe do it themselves–
Woman: Uhuh.
PP: And some would have to, they would refer you to the particular place, who they work with who would do it for you.
Woman: OK.
PP: It depends on which doctor you go to.
002200 “Well I’m thinking that it might be, ’cause I could even get the CVS test done now!”
002300 “Yeah!”
002400 “I’m at the stage where I wouldn’t have to wait.”
002420 “Yeah, it’s between 11 and 13 weeks, and so it is a test that you could do now.”
002500 “So I could do that before scheduling even the abortion, just in case it’s a boy, and–that would be awful. That would be really hard, I can’t imagine.”
002800 “Yeah, absolutely. You would want to obviously, because you haven’t seen anybody yet, you’d want to you know, see, you’d want to make an appointment with someone as soon as possible.”
Woman: Right.
PP: And so, I think it has to–
Woman: Do you– I’m sorry?
PP: It has to be an OB/GYN doctor who can then do the test themselves or like I said
Woman: Refer.
PP: Refer you to somebody.
Woman: So you have a network of OB/GYN doctors who you refer to, and then some of them refer to other people if they can’t do the actual testing themselves.
PP: Right. Um, but it really depends again on your insurance.
Woman: Ok. Okay, I’ll find out the answer to that question. I want to say it’s Blue Shield.
PP: Blue Cross, Blue Shield?
Woman: Yeah.
PP: Okay. And you live in Westchester?
Woman: We live in Bronxville. So, it’s–
PP: Okay.
Woman: It’s a little bit of a trek, as I found out today.
PP: Yeah.
Woman: Oh my gosh. I mean, L.A., you know, we have a lot of traffic, and it takes a while to get around too, but boy, this is a new monster, I’m glad my husband’s the one doing the driving!
PP: Right. Right, right, right. So, yeah, I mean, most of the, some of the places we know are sort of closer to here that are downtown, it woudl obviously be, if it was a pregnancy you were interested in continuing with it would obviously be a lot more convenient for you to be seeing someone closer to your home.”
005100 “Right.
PP: I mean, we could certainly do–
Woman: We could probably, I mean, just at this stage even, if there is somebody that you guys would recommend–”
005300 “Mhmm”
005300 “That I could go to just to get the test, so that we know–”
005400 “Right.”
005500 “Um, because, then if we find out that it is a girl, then we could terminate earlier, rather than having to wait.”
005600 “Yeah!” (Randi nods approvingly.)
005700 “Are there fewer complications that way?”
005750 “Yeah, so, you know, with, so, an abortion up to, at any stage up to 24 weeks is considered a safe procedure.
Uhuh.
PP: The biggest difference is that after 16 weeks, the procedure becomes a 2-day procedure, rather than a procedure that’s done just on one day.
Woman: Okay.
PP: And, um, I can explain what happens during the 2 day procedure.”
“Yeah, what is it, because they have to prepare you more?”
006600 “Because they have to dilate your cervix.”
“Okay. [nervous laughter]
006700 “So your cervix has to be dilated first before you can actually remove the pregnancy.
Woman: Okay.
PP: So that’s why it’s a 2-day procedure pretty much no matter where you go after 16 weeks.”
007000 “After 16.”
007100 “Yeah, between 16 and 24.
Okay.
PP: So it’s not that it’s unsafe, or that there’s a lot more risk involved, it’s just there’s more steps involved.
Woman: Mhm.
PP: and it’s just a little more complicated.
Woman: Right.
PP: You know, the further along you are in your pregnancy.”
007500 “That–I mean, it sounds like if we do this test, we can avoid waiting longer.”
007750 “Yes.”
007800 “Just to find out definitively, which I think would give us more peace of mind, because, again, we even, like, my husband and I, we argue about this a little bit. We’re like, well what if the baby that we had aborted you know, after my daughter’s birth was the boy!”
008100 “Right.”
008200 “And here I am, you know, pregnant again with a girl, like how many times do we have to keep trying, you know?”
008300 “Mhmm.” (Nods)
008600 “But um, so that might be a safer bet, to just try that. Now, the OB/GYN that you guys are going to refer me to – if, you know, I go and I get the testing and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s healthy – you’ve got all these checkmarks, everything’s fine, but we confirm that it’s a girl, will they judge me at all – if they find out that I’m going to come back here to terminate it because it’s a girl?”
009200 “Well, so that’s–it’s really your decision. I can’t tell you if somebody is going to judge you or not. I don’t know. You know, I, I, I can’t, I can’t speak for anybody else and how they practice or what they do.”
Yeah.
009800 “It is your decision, and you don’t need a doctor or OB/GYN’s permission to decide what you and your husband feel like is best for you.”
Woman: Yeah.
PP: And your family.
Woman: Yeah.
010170 “And so, if you decide that, even if you find out that it’s a girl, and you decide that what you would prefer–
Woman: Mhm.
PP: Is to terminate the pregnancy, then that’s just your decision. It’s nobody else’s.”
Woman: Right. But I mean, these, these doctors, they’re–
PP: So they’re not–so here’s the thing. We can recommend, or I can recommend, you know, try to help you find an OB/GYN doctor for you to see for prenatal care.
Woman: Mhm.
PP: There really isn’t a set you know, doctor, or one practice that are affiliated, that we’re necessarily affiliated with.
Woman: Right. I see. So it’s kind of just, it’s people that you guys know and that you work with, and you–
PP: I wouldn’t even necessarily say that we work with, they’d definitely just be assisting you and helping you to find somebody for you to go, because it isn’t a test, we don’t do prenatal care here at Planned Parenthood.”
Yeah, yeah, I understand. So, you don’t, so, is there somebody that you have worked with in the past that you would specifically though recommend, that they would be understanding of my situation?
PP: No, I really don’t know of an OB/GYN prenatal doctor who I can tell you that they do prenatal care, I can tell you that they, you know, that they would be able to do these tests for you
Yeah.
I can’t really say that there’s gonna be someone in particular who is going to be necessarily understanding.
Yeah
Most OB/GYN doctors hopefully are understanding that it’s a woman’s choice to decide
Mhm
If she’s interested in adoption, if she’s interested in prenatal care–
Right.
If she’s interested in terminating. And whatever somebody’s decision is for having an abortion is really her choice.
It’s not anybody’s business. Yeah.
PP: So, and so, if you go to a doctor, and they do a prenatal test for you
Mhm
Um, or even if you know, they don’t do prenatal tests for you, and at somewhere along the line in your pregnancy you decide to terminate
Mhm
That is not information, that’s only–that’s information that you decide who to share that information with.
Mhm. So you’re saying that I don’t even have to tell them, you know, I could just, I could get it done, get the testing, and just come back here for the abortion and they wouldn’t even know, I mean, they might follow up with me, and I could just say, oh, I started going to another–
PP: Under what’s called HIPAA law, we are not allowed to release or discuss your medical care or your medical situation or any share any of your medical records with anyone else without your permission. And that includes any other doctor.
015000 “Okay good. Good. And I mean, like, if we just, if we end up, if we keep being unlucky and keep having girls, would the people, would the staff here wonder what’s going on, would people be like, why are you aborting all the girls?”
015500 “That I really can’t answer for you.”
“Yeah? I don’t know, I was hoping it would be a little bit–”
015700 “Um, I can tell you that here at Planned Parenthood we believe that it’s not up to us to decide what is a good or a bad reason–
Mhm.
For somebody to decide to terminate a pregnancy.
Mhm.
It is up to each individual person to decide what you feel like is best for you and your family.”
016400 “Thank you. Thank you. (Randi smiles and nods.) Like I said, this has been our dream and our plan and I don’t want to have to give birth to 4 more children before we finally have our boy or something.”
“Mhmm.” (Nodding.)
016900 “You know, it’d just be ridiculous, so, we just, and we really do want a son.”
017000 “Mhmm. Okay. Well, that’s a decision that’s, you know, that’s a decision, that’s you know, that’s between you and your husband.”
Well could you maybe give me the referrals for the OB/GYNs that are in this area that you were saying that you guys usually–
PP: Sure! I can tell you there’s a practice around the corner called Spring OB/GYN.
Woman: Spring?
PP: Uh-huh. Spring. And I can print out their information for you.
Woman: Okay. Great.
PP: They do prenatal care. It’s a practice of all-female OB/GYN doctors and a couple of midwives–
Woman: Oh, thanks, I appreciate the all-female–
PP: Yeah, and they’re really very nice.
Woman: Okay.
PP: And so, I’m not exactly sure, because you’re not sure what insurance you have, I’m not exactly sure which insurance they take–
Woman: They’re–okay. Blue Cross, Blue Shield is pretty standard, isn’t it?
PP: It is, yeah, it’s a pretty common–
Woman: Good. I don’t–yeah, I don’t know which plan we’ve got. I’ll have to look into that.
PP: Okay. There’s another one downtown–OB/GYN–there’s another practice that’s around here also. They may accept a few more insurance plans. I believe they’re an all-female practice as well–
Woman: Okay. Great.
019500
PP: –and so I can do that for you. And have you guys–you know, ’cause we’re required to discuss all of a patient’s options–is adoption something that you were interested in considering?
019770
Woman: Oh, no. I mean, we would like to, obviously, try as soon as possible again. (Randi nods.) So, you know, once we find out–and that’s why I was kinda curious if I had to wait until 18 weeks or if there was a way that I could find out even sooner. So since it sounds like there is, you know, then we’d rather just get it taken care of and try again! Have more fun.
021100
PP: Is Planned Parenthood–have you gone to any other clinics besides Planned Parenthood?”
021200
Woman: I haven’t. Planned Parenthood was my first stop.
021300
PP: Mhm.
021400
Woman: Are there others that you’d recommend me talk to?
021440
PP: No–I mean, not necessarily. Obviously, if your priority is to–if your priority is to see a doctor for prenatal care so that you can have a genetic test done, then I would recommend doing that.
021900
Woman: Yeah, just so we can get the genetic test and determine, you know, for sure, the gender before scheduling–and that shouldn’t take too long so I mean, I wonder if I could even get the procedure done still at the Bronx clinic since that’s closer.
022500
PP: Um–I don’t think so–um–if you’re already 12 weeks, by the time you get an appointment to see a doctor first, you have to have an initial consultation–
Woman: Okay.
PP: –an initial appointment, and then you’d have to schedule, you know, to do, um, probably, I guess, you know, you would try for the CVS test–
Woman: Yes.
PP: –and I think it does take, then, at least a week to get the results.
023100
Woman: Oh, really?
PP: Yeah.
023200
Woman: Okay. So we’re probably talking about scheduling for the 14th week of pregnancy? (Randi nods.) And you guys do that here–maybe I should go ahead–can I schedule that appointment so that I have that on the books?
023600
PP: Sure.
023670
Woman: –’cause we’re pretty sure it is a girl again–80%-90% sure–and then once we get that confirmation, I’ll just plan on keeping it. And I’ll call you guys if for some reason we found out, “It’s a boy!”
024000
PP: That’s fine. Um, I’ll give you my card, and you can call me.
Woman: Oh, thank you.
PP: Yeah, sure.
Woman: Oh, that’s great. I kept trying to call–um, the main line when I was running late. It takes so long to get through to even this clinic! So I was so glad when you left your actual direct line on the, um–
PP: Yeah, you can–and that has my direct line, so you can always, um, [inaudible].
Woman: And again, thank you for fitting me in today. It’s like–are you from New York?
PP: Mm-hm.
Woman: So then you’re a natural already. (Laughter.)
PP: Do you like living in New York?
Woman: I think I will like living in New York–I think it’ll take a little getting used to.
PP: What brought you guys here to New York?
Woman: His work. But–you know, I do love big cities. I loved LA; there’s always something going on, which is really, you know, it’s fun. But we don’t–you know, we don’t live kind of in the heart of it right now, though–
PP: Right.
Woman: I guess that has its pros and cons.
PP: Sorry, I don’t know what’s going on with my printer. Let me write it down for you. (Pause.) And–
Woman: And do they know you? So if I told them, “Oh, Randi over at Planned Parenthood referred me–”
PP: No, I don’t know that they’d know me by name.
Woman: Oh, okay.
PP: [Whispering, inaudible.] Okay, so here’s [inaudible].
Woman: Okay. And then do we–set the appointment here–
PP: And so you would like to set up an appointment?
Woman: Yeah.
PP: So–
Woman: So that would be for two weeks from now?
PP: And you don’t–but you think that you’d like to just pay out of pocket for that appointment?
Woman: We will, yes.
PP: Okay. Um, so the price changes depending on how far along you are in your pregnancy–
Woman: Mm-hm.
PP: –so, just to let you know, um, it’s probably–I have to look–but it’s probably going to be, I think, $650?
Woman: Okay. That’s kind of what we expected.
PP: Okay. So is there a particular date that you would like for me to plan for?
Woman: Well, let’s see. So we’re–we’re going out–we think it’ll take–I’ll try to get an appointment with them as soon as possible for the test. Um, and it’ll take about a week, you said? for the results–so if possible, um, can we do an appointment on a Saturday? It would be easier for my husband to bring me.
PP: Um–(sigh)–we can do on a Saturday. Um, the only thing is that if it’s past–we–we don’t do two-day procedures on Saturdays, so you’d have to be under 16 weeks, obviously–
Woman: I see.
PP: –and so–
Woman: How do we–? Will the doctor that you referred me to be able to tell exactly where I’m at?
PP: Sure, they’ll do a sonogram for you.
Woman: Okay.
PP: Yeah. Um, so it may be better to not schedule it on a Saturday–
Woman: Okay.
PP: Um–
Woman: Um, that’s fine. We’ll work it out. I mean, he can kinda manage his own schedule. It’s just, I wanted to make it a little bit–(trails off. Laughter.) But he understands. I mean, we’re in this together.
PP: (Laughs.) Does he know you’re here today?
Woman: Yes.
PP: Okay.
Woman: Yeah. No, we’re definitely in solidarity on this. You know, we, again, we really wanted a son for some time, and–we’re ready!
032100
PP: What is it about having a son versus a daughter–? What’s–?
032200
Woman: Well, like I mentioned, we have a girl, and, you know, she’s really–she’s great and everything, but it would just be nice, I think, for a family balance, you know?
032500
PP: Mhm. (Randi nods.) Okay, so–um, d’you–how about two weeks from Friday? That would be April 27th–would a Friday be okay? Or–
Woman: That should work.
PP: Okay.
Woman: Yeah. And I’ll call you guys if I need to change it for any reason
PP: Sure. Okay, so I’m gonna put you in for 8:30 in the morning, ‘cause that’s the time that we schedule, um, appointments for, um, for abortion procedures.
Woman: Okay.
033500
PP: Did they give you a red chart? Did they–did you get–? No?
Woman: No–
PP: Did you see the cashier downstairs?
Woman: I did; I checked in–
PP: And–but they didn’t give you any kind of–
Woman: Oh, I–I filled out my information. I didn’t remember it being red.
PP: They usually give you, like, a red chart to get–(Laughter.) Um, I’m just gonna do it for you. Spell your last name for me.
034800
Woman: (Inaudible.) (Pause.) Is this your family?
PP: Mm-hm.
Woman: So you have a son.
PP: Um, I have two!
Woman: You do! How old are they?
PP: They are 7 and 4.
Woman: How fun! So no girls?
PP: No girls.
Woman: Girls are more high-maintenance. Trust me.
PP: (Giggles.) All right, so you’re scheduled for, um–for Friday the 27th and 8:30 in the morning.
Woman: Okay. Can I–can you write that down actually on this sheet?
PP: Of course. (Writes.)
036300
Woman: I’ll have it all in one place. (Pause.) Hopefully I don’t actually have to have this appointment. (Randi nods.) Um, hopefully we find out it’s a boy and the test–Intelligender–is wrong!
036600 Randi laughs uncomfortably.
036700
PP: Okay. Um, whatever you decide is, is, is, you know, is your decision. Um, and so a couple of things about this appointment that are important to know: um, I can give you some paperwork about the type of procedure you’d be having. Would that help you?
Woman: Yeah. If you have anything I could take with me, that’d be great.
PP: Yeah, I can get that. I’m just gonna run downstairs to get it. But, um–you would expect to be here for about 4 to 6 hours on that day–
Woman: Okay.
PP: Um, there’s–
Woman: And I won’t now have to do the–the day before–the dilation that you were talking about, the two-day–?
PP: No, if you’re less than 16 weeks, then it’s just a one-day procedure.
Woman: Okay.
PP: Yeah. And so, you would have a sonogram, um, blood work, a counseling session, um–if it, if–what happens is between 12 and 16 weeks, there is an additional step involved in the procedure, which is that we give you pills to put in your mouth that sit in between your gum and your cheek for about an hour and a half before they actually do the procedure, and those pills help your cervix to dilate.
Woman: Oh, interesting.
PP: Um, but that’s all that’s needed, and we can–that’s how we do it–
Woman: They just sit there for a couple–? Okay–
PP: Yeah. They dissolve.
Woman: I mean, people don’t get sick off of ‘em, right?
PP: No.
Woman: Okay. Okay. (Laughs nervously.)
PP: And, um–and then, um–yeah! And then they would–the procedure takes about ten minutes. Um, you would be asleep for the procedure–
Woman: Ten minutes!
PP: About ten minutes.
Woman: Oh, that’s really fast.
PP: Yeah.
Woman: Okay, so most of it is just the prep work.
PP: A lot of it is the waiting, and the–all the steps in between. You’re in the recovery room about a half an hour to 45 minutes–um, we give you anesthesia through an IV in your arm–
Woman: All right–
PP: So the two most important things are that you have somebody who can take you home, somebody will be here to take you home–
Woman: My husband will be taking care of that.
PP: Yeah. And that you don’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before.
Woman: Okay.
PP: So that’s really important.
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Woman: And–and how soon can we have sex after the procedure?
PP: Um, so–um, we just say nothing inside the vagina for two weeks.
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Woman: Two weeks. Okay. Do you know how soon I could get pregnant?
PP: That I don’t know.
Woman: Okay.
PP: Yeah, that I don’t know. That would be a–uh, medical provider, you–a doctor you would need to ask.
Woman: All right. Great. Well, thank you very much.
PP: You’re welcome!
Woman: This is really helpful. Um–you were gonna grab the sheet?
PP: Yeah. If you wanna wait here, I’ll be right back.
Woman: Okay. Thanks.
[INSERT FRAME NUMBER HERE] Randi leaves to get the form.
[INSERT FRAME NUMBER HERE] Randi returns.
PP: Okay. So this is, uh–information that you would get here on the day of–that your procedure–um, assuming that you’re between 12 and 16 weeks, and so you can take that–
Woman: Great. I’ll read up on that. Yeah.
PP: And, um–this is just some information about the steps and what happens–
Woman: Okay.
PP: –on the day that you’re here, and this we give out when you walk in the door, um, for–if you have an appointment for termination. But it’s good to read anyway.
Woman: Yeah, I don’t mind homework. (Laughs.) Great. Well, thank you. And, um–and then, how–I know this might be completely out of your wheelhouse, but do you happen to have any tips on how to conceive boys? (Laughs.) I know you’ve had two!
PP: No, I’m sorry. No.
Woman: Okay. Just thought it was worth a shot. Oh, well! We’ll keep trying. (Laughter.)
PP: No, so, if you decide, um, that you wanna change your appointment, or you need more assistance, or you wanna cancel your appointment, you can always just call me directly.
Woman: Great. Well, thank you; I really appreciate it.
PP: Okay?
Woman: And–
PP: No problem.
005400
Woman: Hopefully we will have to cancel it, because we find out it’s a boy. But if not, I will be here on the 27th.
005500
PP: Okay!
Woman: Great. Thank you, Randi.
PP: You’re welcome. Nice to meet you.
Woman: Take care. Good to meet you, too.
PP: So, just take the elevator–
Woman: Uh-huh–
PP: –um, outside, um, back down to level 1.
Woman: Okay. Thanks, Randi.
PP: Okay?
Woman: Bye.
FNLI0349_20120411160400.ASF
Woman asks Randi if she has any tips for conceiving a boy. Randi laughs and says no.
005400 “Hopefully we will have to cancel it, because hopefully we find out it’s a boy, but if not, I will be here on the 27th.”
005500 “OK!”
Conversation ends shortly thereafter.
