Issue date: 7/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: John Dale Planned Parenthood director, Abby Johnson, is responsible for the day to day operations of the clinic. [Click to enlarge]

Outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, a single protestor stands silently on the sidewalk, dwarfed by the large iron fence that rises well above her bowed head. Behind her a steady stream of vehicles run this way and that down 29th Street. In front of her is the building itself, just beyond the iron barrier. From a roadside glance, this is a common scene from day to day.

Upon entering the building, I am immediately welcomed by a security door. My access is granted without trouble, though, and I take a seat in one of the visitor's chairs in the waiting room.

After about a half-hour of routine dealings with the handful of female patients, I am called into the back. I make my way past the candy bowl of condoms and the literature holders stocked full of educational brochures, and enter the clinic. The rooms to my left and right are the same as every other medical clinic I have entered. At the end of these rooms I find Abby Johnson, the director of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan.

She quickly offers an apology for the frenzy that a Monday presses on the clinic. As someone who has suffered a weekend onset of sickness only to visit the doctor behind an endless line of patients, I understand the concept. I inquire about the services that the clinic provides that has kept it running, including abortions.

As it turns out, abortion services make up 6 percent of the services that the clinic provides, according to Johnson.

"Ninety-four percent of our services are other things," she said. "Primarily family planning visits."

These services include distribution of birth control, Pap smears, breast exams, annual check-ups for women and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections for both men and women.

"A lot of people don't know that we do colposcopies and cryotherapy here," Johnson said. These procedures are the medical diagnostic procedure and treatment of an abnormal pap smear, respectively. "If someone has an abnormal pap smear, we are actually able to follow up on that in house and treat that for them here."

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools