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Abortion Clinics
"I couldn’t believe I knew this secret that this girl had kept from her family and friends."
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By Chelsea Vargas
I’m well known at school for being the girl with all the sex ed information, like what to do if the condom breaks, or how to get birth control without having to tell your parents. I guess it got around that I’m a big supporter of a woman’s right to choose. But here I am this supposed expert, and yet I had never actually set foot in a clinic. So I decided to volunteer.
My first morning at the clinic, the most exciting thing that happened was a paper cut from filing papers and organizing patient charts. Later that day I went with a clinician to tell several patients the results of their pregnancy tests. At first, it felt a bit intrusive to be in the room when these women and girls found out whether they were pregnant. I mean, I didn’t even want to open my college decision letters with other people in the room, and pregnancy is a lot more personal than whether or not some university wants me.
My second day at the clinic, one of the clinicians who’d taken me under her wing brought me into a procedure room, to see an abortion being performed. At first I was terrified. I was worried the patient would scream or cry or throw up, or even worse, that I would pass out and the doctors would be forced to deal with me instead of doing what they were there to do.
When we slipped into the room, my fear of blood and passing out was replaced by a feeling that I just didn’t belong there. The girl was younger than I was. When the clinician asked her if I could watch the procedure, she said sure. Partway through the abortion, the clinician asked the patient if she had a ride home. Yeah – the bus, the girl replied. No one was coming to pick her up because no one knew where she was. I couldn’t believe I knew this secret that this girl had kept from her family and friends. But it seemed like she might have been glad to have someone to tell, even if the someone was some random girl she’d never see again. She even asked me a couple questions about myself, and at one point I held her hand.
The whole procedure took less than five minutes, and it wasn’t gory at all. I have no idea what she’ll think about the whole experience, now that it’s over, or if she’ll even remember I was there. But I know I will.
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