From 15 to 52—still the most complete and respectful health care I ever received was at PP
Some people seem to have this idea that PP is some speakeasy where you walk in and the staff pushes a handful of birth control (BC) pills into your mouth while encouraging you to have an abortion. My experiences as a client and a counselor have led me to view it as the most capable, compassionate, and respectful visit to an MD available.
In the 70s I became a client at PP at 15, and worked at age 16-17, as a peer counselor (cuz the teens were scared to talk to old chicks) at a PP in Philadelphia. Everyone came in nervously, automatically asking for ‘the pill’ back then. But girls and women were encouraged during the counseling/intake interview to open up and talk about why they thought they needed it—so many of us were not sexually active enough for full-time birth control like that and had no idea there were other methods and devices; others were feeling pressured to have sex but didn’t know how to say no. PP offered support to get to what YOU really wanted and needed instead of blindly handing out pills.
After the intake, to get any BC or procedure you had to do a session on what all the BC methods (including ‘rhythm’) were, and the (at the time shocking) “how to do a breast exam” demo on Sally-the-lifelike-silicone-torso, and then have a breast as well as pelvic exam from the doctor. That was often the only time girls and women had seen a doctor since they got their immunizations in grade school. As a middle-class girl I had received care from the family doctor, but a visit there only happened if you had a fever and, then, if your throat was sore that must be the culprit, medicines were prescribed (and you could not ask questions about them without the doctor acting angry or insulted), and the ‘exam’ was over. At PP I was asked about my whole body and any symptoms or concerns, not just boobs and vagina, and encouraged to ask questions about any and everything.
PP taught me that I was a consumer of health care, not a passive patient, and I had rights. People were told every visit to read the notes counselors and doctors made in their chart to make sure it was accurate—that mistakes can happen even by the best; and you could come back and read your chart any time —it was about you so it was yours. What a gift! Good freakin’ luck trying to explain that to most health care practitioners. But I have insisted on that level of access to my medical records ever since. and, had I not, the errors and misinterpretations would have led to treatments (or the withholding of treatments), negatively impacting my health and life.
Thank you, Planned Parenthood, for teaching me by body is mine, to care for my whole body, and stand up for what I know to be true from inside of it.
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Patrice Belzer submitted this to plannedparenthoodsavedme
