The women probably use it that way because women need to get periodic gynecological exams to get prescriptions for hormonal contraception renewed. Planned Parenthood is a low-cost medical clinic for those without health insurance, and they know PP is going to be able and willing to renew their contraceptive prescriptions, so it’s a reasonable place for women to go for that. And if you’re already going to PP for your gynecological exam, it makes logistical sense to try to get other medical needs dealt with at the same place.
Men don’t take hormonal contraceptives, so they don’t go in for those periodic exams.
I suppose there are no pro-life alternatives to PP (that would provide all the services that PP does, with the exception of abortions) because of the wing of pro-lifers who are also anti-contraception.
Worried as I am about that, I’m far more concerned about teenage girls getting pregnant through rape or statutory rape. Whatever we may feel about abortion, it doesn’t make those issues go away, and health care providers have a duty to report suspected abuse.
I don’t know whether Maureen lives in a parental notification state. But all health care providers live in states where they must report suspected abuse to the police or child services.
Do you have any stories about the depth of ignorance of reproductive health of the general public?
I’m not in health care - let alone reproductive health care - and I have two.
A friend of mine worked in a women’s health clinic (I don’t know if it was PP or not). A new client came in for a pregnancy test - a woman in her thirties. After the physical, while waiting for the test results, the MD was filling in some details on the patient’s history. My friend was an observer to this. The doc asked what form of birth control the client used. “An IUD,” she said. The Doc said “I didn’t notice one during my exam. Might it have fallen out?” Client: “Oh, no. I don’t have an IUD. My boyfriend does. He had a coil put in his penis.”
:eek: Just hearing this story made my jaw drop. Had I been there I’d have laughed in that poor woman’s face. I’m really glad I’m not an MD!
My friend was shocked that any woman over the age of 20 could be so ignorant.
The MD was, by my friend’s account, a total professional. The MD did not laugh in her patient’s face. She did say “I’ve never heard of such a thing, and given that you’re here for a pregnancy test, let’s talk about what you can do to keep from becoming pregnant.”
Another friend heard about a call that came into the clinic where she worked. The call was from a young woman who was pregnant and looking for an abortion. The woman had a question: “Will there be any complications since I’m a virgin?” Again, I’m glad I was nowhere near the place when this happened. I’d have gone from to “Are you ****ing kidding me?” The person who took the call had a much better answer: “Um, not in my experience.” The client was reassured.
Not to keep elbowing in on Maureen’s thread, but one that never fails to bring out an :eek: in me when I think of it…
I noticed a patient had come in for Plan B (emergency contraceptive, “the morning-after pill”) twice within a very short period of time. Each EC counsel also revolved around helping the patient create a pro-active plan for preventing future necessity of EC–establishing a continuing plan for prevention of pregnancy, encouraging condom use, and so on. This particular patient had declined birth control counseling at the prior visit, stating that she wasn’t sexually active. There are a couple perfectly valid reasons why that might be the case, but when I saw her the second time, she again said that although she was seeing us for EC for the second time in only a few days, she wasn’t sexually active since “it doesn’t even last five minutes.” :eek: :eek: :eek:
The biggest problems I saw were people doing the weirdest things with their pills. Oral contraceptives are easy to use, in theory: start with day 1 of your next period, take one pill a day, every single day, in order. Start here and take them in order until you end up here. When you finish, start a new pack immediately. Don’t skip any days. End of story. There are some deviations to the rules in specific situations, but in general, that’s the way you take birth control pills.
I can’t even begin to list all the imaginative ways people would manage to screw this up. People would start and stop pills according to whether or not they were actively bleeding, and since you sometimes randomly spot in the first months, they were starting and stopping their pills, which of course caused more spotting and so on and so on…
Or they’d faithfully follow the days of the week pre-printed on the pack, and end up skipping half a week at the beginning and end of a pack because it didn’t line up with their period. Missing the placebo pills in the end of the cycle is, of course, no issue at all, but missing the first couple of pills in your pack is as close to a guarantee of escape ovulation as you get. I’d see people who had been doing this for a year.
I once saw a woman in her late 20’s who had never had intercourse. She and her partner were finally going to be married and had saved themselves for each other. She said that they had slept in the same bed, but had never had sex. I have absolutely no reason to doubt her side of the story, and her apparent innocence, bewilderment, and emotional breakdown seemed unfortunately genuine to me. The NP began a visual pelvic exam, and ended up diagnosing the worst primary outbreak of HSV-2 she’d ever seen.
I’ve never visited a Planned Parenthood clinic; however, after reading this thread, I’d like to send a big hug and thanks to people like Maureen. PP is definitely on my charity list now.
I suppose it might seem unfair, but maybe I can explain how it was in my case.
I was young and had no insurance, so I did not have a primary care physician and did not receive annual check-ups. However, I always had an annual pelvic exam, and I was on the pill, so I used PP as my GYN. PP would not and did not diagnose my ear infections, sprained ankles or gashed hand- I went to a walk-in clinic for those.
So, although women might talk about how their OB/GYN is their “primary” doctor, they aren’t actually receiving the usual “general practitioner” services from PP.
Does that make sense?
Also, a humorous anecdote- for a long time I used a PP office that was just down the street from a high school. In the lobby of the PP office, there was a low coffee table with tissues, various magazines, and a big bowl full of free, individual condoms (usually in brightly-colored wrappers, so as to be noticed). They were freebies, like a candy bowl. Almost every time I was waiting to be seen, a teenage boy would slink into the office, sidle innocently over to the bowl, quickly grab a handful of condoms and run out! I figured, Hey, at least he’s getting condoms…
Oh, and about birth control ignorance- in high school, my doctor from PP came to lecture about various things ( :eek: ). She had the good manners not to greet me by name! Anyway, during the Q&A portion of the lecture, a nice, bright cheerleader who I had known since grade school was asking about pot smoking and sperm count. She explained that her boyfriend had been telling her that she couldn’t get pregnant because he smoked a lot of pot, and pot lowers a man’s sperm count, and was it true? The gal smiled sweetly (but a little sadly) and told her that, yes, pot smoking might lower his sperm count- from 500 million per ejaculation all the way down to 250 million per ejaculation- did that make her feel better? You should have seen that girl’s face…
Just another big Thank You to Maureen and all the folks at PP. I did not have the benefit of PP when I first became sexually active, and was 16 when my son was born. As (apparently) the first girl to give birth and then return to my school, I was approached by friends and even people I didn’t know asking for birth control advice. I always told them to get themselves to PP and talk to them. It’s only because of PP that there aren’t a whole lot more middle aged people in my home town who were conceived in a Volkswagen bus.
Although I love my son more than life itself and would definitely choose the same course were I able to do it all over again, I’m really glad that PP was able to keep a few teenagers from having to make that excruciating decision of “what to do about the baby”.
Maureen, my husband worked, and still occasionally consults, for PPMM. Nicest group of people you could ever meet.
Just another thank you from the once poor and uninsured (and possibly to be poor and uninsured again in the near future). My PP Dr was the nicest earth mother lady in the world and the nurses are always outstanding.
Oh crap. Considering your caveats at the end, I’m betting this was the result of childhood abuse? (Or was it ignorance about what “counts” as sexual activity?)
Thanks to Maureen and everyone at PP. I read a column in the Chicago Tribune today where protesters at the suburban PP clinic that’s being challenged are writing down license plate numbers of the workers there, with the intent of contacting their neighbors about what they do. I think it’s time to add them to my charity list again. PP would have been my option when I was without insurance, years ago, but there wasn’t a close enough suburban location to fit around my work schedule, and working through a temp agency I didn’t feel like taking a day off was an option. They’ve helped many of my friends get yearly pelvic exams and birth control.
Wow! This exploded today! I feel bad for not getting back sooner. Thanks again to everyone who has chimed in with personal stories. They’re all wonderful. And thanks especially to NajaNivia for chiming in!
Yes, we still offer Norplant, although it isn’t as popular as it once was. Many women do swear by it.
The primary medical care is mostly for children, but we absolutely offer services to men as well. The family counseling and reproductive health are offered to men as well. We also offer sterilization services and treatment for STD’s.
I understand your objection, and I wouldn’t expect you to donate to something that went against your ethical values. However, there are many Planned Parenthood affiliates which do not perform abortion services and still offer low and no cost care to those who can ill afford to get it elsewhere.
Back atcha, darlin’. How you been?
If an underage girl comes in and reports a rape, we report it immediately as well as offer counseling and the number for a local “safe house” (S.A.V.E.- Shelters Against Violent Environments).
I do not, in fact, live in such a state. Californians voted down the parental notification bill last November. Regardless, a 16 year old girl who is pregnant can be pregnant through consensual sex, and that is one of the questions I ask. Minors are advised that statutory rape must be reported to the authorities. Not their parents.
I honestly don’t know. Typically symptoms show fairly quickly, but can take any length of time, including “never”. She just kept wailing that she’d “never even had sex”. Presumably her partner hadn’t, to her knowledge, either.
Oh, and re: writing down of license plates–my license plate number is protected by the DMV for precisely this reason, meaning that no one has access to any information on me via my license number (that includes police dispatch in at least one unfortunate situation!). You may want to ask staff if they’ve been offered that protection. In theory, they can do nothing with those numbers other than shove them up uncomfy places.
OY, do we get misconceptions. The questions are a bit alarming. In a way, I’m mystified by people who insist no sex education be taught in schools, only at home. They never educate.
No, you cannot “rinse” yourself out with beer the next morning in order to avoid pregnancy. (from a female student at a local college clinic day)
Yes, you can still get your girlfriend pregnant even if you masturbate before having sex.
(same college clinic. The temptation to ask “how much are your parents paying for your education?” was nearly overwhelming)
Really, really, REALLY. Do not turn your condom inside out to have sex a second time. Go get more condoms. Or come here for them, we hand them out free.
For a very short period of time, I worked in a place where there were a lot of women around my age (early 20s) with multiple children each. One of them had six, and was no older than 25. The things I heard about their understanding of women’s and men’s reproductive systems was amazingly inaccurate. :eek:
One of them thought that boys were sterile until they were fourteen and that sleeping around before then was okay.
A lot of them just didn’t seem to understand much about how pregnancy happened, other than it sometimes happens with unprotected sex. It was a bit shocking, especially because I had gone out of my way to teach myself how things worked and what to do to prevent pregnancy and disease transmission when sex education wasn’t provided at my schools.
Thank you again for doing this work. I haven’t had to use Planned Parenthood’s services, but I’m glad they’re around if I need it. It’s a lot better than those “crisis center” clinics that are so popular in Florida, as there are at least ethical guidelines when it comes to counseling practices. Unfortunately, a popular license plate design (“choose life”) has proceeds going to support these unethical “crisis centers,” and they’re only becoming more popular.
PP helped me with birth control and an STD when I was young and poor and recently gave my children TB tests though I am now old and well-insured. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for what you do.
Here is my question: You mentioned that you have a lot of volunteers; it just so happens that I am looking for a volunteer gig now that school has started and my kids are embarrassed by my mere presence.
What do your volunteers do? I don’t have any medical skills, would I still be welcome? What is the best way to go about inquiring? I’m sure they have to be very selective and I wonder how best to approach the situation.
SailedTheOceanBlue, your lack of clinical background is not a problem; we have many non-clinical volunteer positions available.
I’m not sure where you live, but your local PP should have a website with volunteer openings. I’m not sure if background checks are performed for volunteers, but it is a possibility. My manager informed me that they were found to be necessary after several right to life activists posed as interviewees looking for employment. Apparently the intent was to obtain names and addresses of patients seeking AB services.
I find that completely horrifying. I don’t have enough venom to voice how I feel about those places. There is one directly across the street from us with a huge "FREE PREGNANCY TESTS! FREE ULTRASOUNDS!!! sign. We would often find their “literature” in our recycle bins, when girls would go there first, get bombarded with their crap, then come to us for real medical care. There were pamphlets that purported to be medical fact that described a girl having a medical abortion, then sobbing while she “watched her crying baby wave to her as she flushed it down the toilet”. One of my patients, a young teenager, came to us for a pregnancy test at the very end of the first trimester, having gone to one of those places at about six weeks into her pregnancy. She had a pregnancy test, and told them she wanted an abortion. They verbally attacked her about it, but when she was firm about her decision, a person acting as a nurse and wearing a lab coat went and got a jar of pills and gave her some. They wouldn’t let her take them home, they made her take them right then and there, and told her the pills would give her an abortion. She left, but when she never had any bleeding and her symptoms didn’t change, she came to us for a pregnancy test. They gave her a fake abortion. They lied to her about their credentials, they lied to her about her medical care and lied to her about her continuing pregnancy. As far as I’m concerned, those people should be arrested and sent to prison. Why aren’t people out protesting and marching at **those **places?
Oh man, we wouldn’t have been able to run without our volunteer staff. Volunteers at our clinic affiliate didn’t actually have any involvement with the medical practice, although some clinics do have volunteers do basic medical intake. With us, you’d call for an application on which you’d state your fields of expertise along with the things you’d most like to be doing as a volunteer. We’d put you wherever you wanted to be–you could be active in the political side helping stuff envelopes, attending political functions, and doing public outreach (this is really fun!), you could help in the admin/office side with office chores, or you could be in the clinic stuffing condom bags, stocking fact sheets and pamphlets, filing charts, and so on. I’d say call your local affiliate and ask what their volunteer program is like. They will probably ask for multiple references and will check them.
Thanks for your interest, volunteers really are gold.
Thank you, the “reproduction clinic” in my hometown doesn’t do this, they directly push abortion. I’m all pro-choice so long as the choice involves more than one option.
I wish I’d known about your services when I was in graduate school in the US. Does PP advertise? If so, how? My university had over a 30% of foreign students, it’s possible that none of us foreigners knew about you. The university itself definitely didn’t inform us of any health-related choices, you went to their medical center and their hospital (I think it didn’t even occur to them that they might want to mention other options, although foreign students had to take the insurance chosen by the uni even if we had full coverage from back home).
I’ve seen PP advertisements posted in the train, for things like EC.
I’ve been going to PP for exams and birth control (love the NuvaRing!) for several years now and couldn’t be happier with the care I’ve received. I have a great rapport with my PA and feel totally comfortable asking her questions and trust her responses.
I think the major reason is that the people who protest Planned Parenthood are protesting it because it provides abortion services at all, and they assume that the crisis centers are “doing their job” by pushing the “choose life” platform and not providing anything other than coercion to go through with the pregnancy, regardless of deceptive tactics used for those who want an abortion. A lot of these centers (at least in the areas I’ve been to in Florida) are religiously based or at least push a religious appearance for the sake of appeasing the religious pro-lifers in the area, and thus tend not to get much attention.
I actually have come up with a question to ask at this point. I moved to the Orlando area, and, with my insurance situation being complicated, I decided I would look up the PP locations in the area and their services. I’m interested in having an IUD inserted, but unfortunately that’s not provided. Is this a common thing, and what would you say is the average range of products/services provided for birth control measures in a PP facility? I’m sure that a lot of it has to do with funding and availability of doctors/nurses who are trained in these procedures.
:eek: Just hearing this story made my jaw drop. Had I been there I’d have laughed in that poor woman’s face. I’m really glad I’m not an MD!
Almost every time I was waiting to be seen, a teenage boy would slink into the office, sidle innocently over to the bowl, quickly grab a handful of condoms and run out! I figured, Hey, at least he’s getting condoms…
Anyway, during the Q&A portion of the lecture, a nice, bright cheerleader who I had known since grade school was asking about pot smoking and sperm count. She explained that her boyfriend had been telling her that she couldn’t get pregnant because he smoked a lot of pot, and pot lowers a man’s sperm count, and was it true? The gal smiled sweetly (but a little sadly) and told her that, yes, pot smoking might lower his sperm count- from 500 million per ejaculation all the way down to 250 million per ejaculation- did that make her feel better? You should have seen that girl’s face…
(Or was it ignorance about what “counts” as sexual activity?)
The questions are a bit alarming. In a way, I’m mystified by people who insist no sex education be taught in schools, only at home. They never educate.