By Sarah Terzo
From a clinic worker:
“I’ve taken up to one hour and a half if the patient needs it – the people at the front desk don’t love it if I do that too often, but if I have to, I do. I just had a patient today that took a really long time. It was a post abortion – she was crying, feeling really guilty. The doctor really scared her; I had to act as her advocate.” [1]
In actuality, most clinics either offer no counseling or counseling that consists only of a short session of telling a group of women about the abortion process (not in too much detail of course) and offering to answer questions. Even in cases where clinic workers want to give more counseling, there is pressure on them to make it short.
Some clinics do offer post-abortion counseling. This woman was obviously very troubled by her abortion, feeling guilty and upset. I wonder what the counselor told her? Probably, like most pro-abortion counselors, [she told the woman] that aborting her baby was perfectly fine and she should not feel guilty.
Perhaps she should have gotten more in depth counseling BEFORE her abortion, not after the fact.
[1] Carole Joffe, The Regulation of Sexuality: Experiences of Family-Planning Workers (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986) 86
Editor’s note. This appeared in Clinic Quotes and is reposted with permission.