jillstanek.com

"[M]y partner and I began to discuss various scenarios. Adoption sounded good. After all, we barely knew each other’s family. When we arrived at Planned Parenthood for our appointment, we were quickly sized up. “Adoption would not be a good course of action because more often than not, the girl becomes too attached to the baby by the time she’s given birth,” the counselor advised. She continued to remind us we hardly knew one another. My partner then inquired if their clinic performed any “termination” procedures. In our heated debates, my partner revealed to me that he once took a friend to have an abortion, and she seemed to have no problems with it. “Well, yes!” the counselor responded enthusiastically. “We can certainly do that for you, and in your situation it is probably best for the both of you,” she said with a grin. I find it interesting that on Planned Parenthood’s website under “pregnancy options” it reads: “If you are pregnant, you have three options to think about — abortion, adoption, and parenting.” Why is parenting last, I wonder?… I look back and remember that we did not receive additional information that would support us in our adoption endeavor. The counselor went on to claim that the fetus doesn’t feel anything during an abortion procedure and not to feel ashamed or worried while stating, “We do this kind of thing all the time.” … “You know,” she continued, ”You are getting really far along in the pregnancy, and we often don’t do abortions past eight weeks, but if we were to schedule something today we can take care of this quickly for you and you’ll be so glad you did it.” She said all this with a smile…. With one swipe of a credit card, about $400 would take care of it. And what if I changed my mind and decided to opt out? I was told by a Planned Parenthood representative that regardless of whether or not I showed up for the appointment, the payment would be kept in full."