I visited this when I was young, naive, and didn't have any money. I went to the clinic because…read morethey advertised free pregnancy tests. I didn't realize they were an anti-choice ('pro life') organization. Here's my story, so other women can know what you're in for if you go here..
The building looked like a normal clinic, with front desk, waiting room, etc. They asked me to sign in and complete forms. Then a clinic employee in a white jacket called me into a room, and started filling out another form. At first, her questions were normal health - about my last period, sexual activity, etc. Then she asked what I wanted to do if I was pregnant. I mentioned abortion. She continued with the Q&A, but her questions started veering off the topic of health, and she started asking about my family, boyfriend, religious beliefs, financial situation, etc. She was starting to get pretty nosy, and I stopped giving her forthright answers. Then she asked me to pee in a cup.
While we were waiting for the results from the pregnancy test, she came back into the room and started trying to talk me out of an abortion. First she started telling me about the clinic's "great" adoption program: They'd help me find adoptive parents, even pay for my medical bills, and take care of everything else. Then she told me that if I decided to keep it the clinic would help me sign up for welfare, and she said that they helped ran a food bank and helped single mothers with new babies.
Then she went and got the test result. While she was out of the room, I peeked at her notebook. She had written notes about my psychological frame of mind and my lack of family support. The "form" she was filling out was actually some kind of psychiatric assessment. That felt incredibly invasive.
The test results were positive, and the counselor started trying to scare me out of having an abortion. She said they were dangerous, that abortions made a lot of women infertile, that they caused later pregnancy complications, that women were usually depressed afterwards, that if I wanted kids in the future I should carry the pregnancy to term. She layed it on thick. Regardless, I indicated that I was still interested in abortion. FINALLY she tells me the clinic doesn't provide abortions (I should have figured it out, but I was very naive), but that if I want an abortion I need an ultrasound. They, of course, can provide it free - or I can pay an abortion provider a couple hundred. Of course, I opted for the free ultrasound - the only reason I went there was because I was broke.
So she calls for the nurse, who sets me up for the ultrasound. A doctor comes in (finally some actual health care workers! At this point, I've been at the clinic at least 2 hours). The counselor comes back into the room and sits by the bed as the dr does the ultrasound. Then she suddenly walks out of the room. The nurse comes back in, the doctor puts away the equipment and leaves. Finally the nurse tells me - no heartbeat. The fetus is dead.
So the doctor come back, and told me I needed to go to the hospital and have a dilation and curettage to end the pregnancy. If I don't, the pregnancy would go septic, and I would go into shock and die. They set up the appointment, and then sent me on my way. I was pretty shook up and scared.
The next day at UVA, I learned the clinic didn't have hospital admitting privileges. That means the pregnancy test and ultrasound had to be redone. The doctor at UVA wasn't excessively concerned about me becoming septic, he said miscarriages usually pass naturally. But the doctor at the clinic had scared me. I didn't want to die. So I opted to schedule a D&C at UVA, and they did it the following day. Everything worked out OK...
But ultimately, the trip to the "free" pregnancy clinic didn't really save me any money. I had to pay for the second ultrasound. I am confident that the clinic performed the ultrasound just so they could lay on a guilt trip when I heard the heartbeat. The medical information that they provided about abortions and the miscarriages was misleading at best. The session with the counselor happened without my consent or knowledge of what was occurring. While the counselor thought I was pregnant, she acted warm and friendly, as if she was concerned about me. But as soon as she realized there was no heartbeat, she vanished without a word. She didn't even pretend to offer counseling about the miscarriage, much less the trumped up risk of my death from septic shock. I wasn't a patient to them, I was just a walking, talking womb. The only thing they cared about was the fetus.
