By Lindsay Spann, 13, New School

“I have never been told much about abortions. The topic has been hidden from youth. Maybe adults think we’re too young to know about it.
When I went to a Los Angeles abortion clinic recently, I learned that girls as young as 12 or 13 are getting abortions. So I think we need to know what’s it like to go to a clinic.
The clinic I went to looked like a small hospital from the outside. When I went in, it seemed more like an office, with a receptionist’s desk, and a pretty waiting room with sea-green comfortable chairs and flowery wallpaper. The women there seemed numb—maybe dazed about the procedure. Some looked sad. Many looked too young to be pregnant. There were teenagers of all races and all ages. Most came with a sister or girlfriend; a few came with boyfriends.

The clinic staff won’t look down on you
The doctors and staff were going through their daily routines. To them it was no big deal. It seemed to me that they didn’t really care how old you were or what race you were, they were just doing their jobs.
When you go to a clinic for an abortion, first they give you a pregnancy test to verify that you’re really pregnant. You then see a social worker who can arrange for Medi-Cal to pay for the abortion if you can’t afford it. The cost of an abortion is approximately $325.
It is then determined whether or not the abortion will be performed while you’re awake or anesthetized. They consider your health, and how scared you are. They also ask how many weeks pregnant you are. (By the way, the longer you wait for an abortion, the more difficult and dangerous it becomes. Abortions are safest if they occur within the first three months.) They may also give you some information about the risks you run when you have an abortion. For example, though it is rare, some women get infections.
The procedure is supposedly painless. Afterwards, some women feel cramps, but usually no other physical problems. The clinic gives you contraception and explains how to use it so that an abortion is not necesssary again. The whole operation takes about an hour but it takes a few more hours for the anesthesia to wear off. It’s about an eight-hour procedure in all.
The staff at the clinic told me that teenagers find out about abortion clinics through the telephone book yellow pages, television ads and in the newspapers, or by word of mouth.
Personally, I’m glad that teenagers have the choice of abortion. Choice is the basis of freedom and freedom is based on truth, and it comes down to an woman’s own personal truth. Isn’t that what the U.S.A. is all about?”