Abortion clinic charges $50 for counseling
How did my daughter Daena and new husband Andy Moore spend their Saturday? Scoping out Dallas abortion mills. The apple and son-in-law don’t fall far from the tree.
The two picked up a fee schedule at the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center and found that it actually charges for counseling.
SWSC also misleads on the cost of abortion since there are mandatory add-ons: sonogram, pregnancy test, and lab work, which total $160. (According to other SWSC literature Daena and Andy got, the sonogram is “necessary” to “determine the size of your pregnancy,” i.e., how much to charge.) How much does an abortion cost? Click to enlarge…
By comparison, pregnancy care centers offer ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and counseling free. They also offer maternity and baby/child clothing, diapers, baby formula, and financial assistance to pregnant mothers, again free, just to name some.
And as an aside, the SWSC’s fee schedule gives a quick demonstration of how Planned Parenthood (unrelated to this abortion mill but provides identical services) manipulates its abortion stats so it can say abortion constitutes only “3% of its services.” In the case of a mother coming to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, it would say it provided at least 4-5 services aside from the abortion – even though they were all solely abortion-related – diluting the truth.
(“NAF” is the National Abortion Federation, and “TEA” is the Texas Equal Access Fund – both included on the price sheet in case a mother can’t cough up enough money for her abortion. SWSC obviously offers no sliding scale based on income.)
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Where is all this “concern” for the poor? It doesn’t seem like too many low income women can even afford to walk into this place.
Wow, know what I see here? Abortion advocates are always wringing their hands over ‘hows the poor mom supposed to pay for prenatal care and labor and delivery?’ (Which of course is a red herring anyway since *ALL* states offer free insurance to poor un/under insured pregnant women and adoption centers will also pay for those services, but they like to make sure women don’t know that) but after the add-ons anything past 18 weeks is just as expensive if not more so than using an independant midwife for a home or center birth and the later ones are even more expensive than a basic vaginal birth (both options billed with all prenatal care combined) at many hospitals. In fact if that poor woman in finacial distress were to get on state insurance for the duration of her pregnancy and birth she’ll pay less out-of-pocket than if she pays for a under 10 week abortion!
What happens between the 17th and 18th week of fetal development to make the cost for killing jump up?
Daena, Andy and Jill, thanks for highlighting the “unbundling” of abortion-related charges in a way that is easy for people to understand. Just excellent! We have been trying to get the word out about this deception since Planned Parenthood first got in trouble in the Seattle area and their records were made public.
Because most abortuaries are a cash business, they can get away with obfuscation related to the charges for an abortion procedure, assigning whatever weight or monetary value to the actual killing of the baby that they wish. Thus Planned Parenthood’s “3% of all business” deception.
Nearly very surgical abortion includes ultrasound, birth control counseling, preabortion counseling, pap smear, pelvic exam, pregnancy test, also dispensing of birth control, disposable medical equipment, etc., etc. When billing the customer for an abortion, Planned Parenthood assigns greater value to these other elements and lesser value to the actual dismembering procedure (D&C). etc., so they can make their false claim.
If they were submitting all their charges through insurance, they would not be allowed to “unbundle” the above list of procedures required in every abortion, and there would be one code assigned for the abortion procedure. It would probably be coded higher based on difficulty, i.e. size of the baby.
This would lead to more truth in reporting by Planned Parenthood of their actual business percentage of abortion.
PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT advocating for insurance coverage of abortion. Never! I am saying that that is probably the only way Planned Parenthood will ever be forced to tell the truth, and even then they would probably find a way to keep the information under wraps.
Jespren – and think of all the baby gear you can get with all that money.
You can even diaper (flat cloth diapers) a baby from birth to potty training for $500 including diapers, covers, liners, pail liners, diaper pail (large trash can with step lid), detergent, and cloth training pants.
Wow, that’s new. They used to only charge for the sonogram if you didn’t have the abortion (if you did, it was “included” in the fee). But that was three years ago when they were operating as Fairmont in their old location.
@Carla, I’m not entirely sure why the cost changes so drastically, but I do know that Southwest is the only late-term abortion clinic in north Texas. Anything after 17 weeks 6 days is late-term and requires that they be an “ambulatory surgical center” and have a generator and other safety-related things for their building. So they (1) have the corner on the market and (2) have extra costs associated with abortions done at 18+ weeks.
@Carla
The price jump may also be in part because of the doctor required to perform the service. I do not know if Mary E. Smith does them that late, so it might be to cover the cost of getting Curtis Boyd in town from New Mexico to do them. It may also be a significant difference in procedure (D&C vs D&X). I think at 18 weeks this clinic also gives the child a digoxin injection to the heart before dismemberment.
Great job, Andy and Daena!
“By comparison, pregnancy care centers offer ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and counseling free.”
Do CPCs provide surgery free-of-charge (I certainly hope not)? Do they have OB-GYNs on staff who deliver babies for free?
Ha ha! Jill you must be proud of your “apple” and “apple-in-law”. Love undercover work!
I love that they charge for counseling. Maybe it will make couples walk into a CPC where a woman will talk to them and help FOR FREE!
And looking at the prices I was struck by two things. I am looking at a birth center and a hospital to have my second child. The birth center is $3700 and the hospital is $4500. An abortion at 24 weeks is almost the same amount! Why not place the baby for adoption? Adoptive parents will cover hospital costs. And your baby gets to LIVE!
Don’t understand how some women say they can’t afford a baby and must abort yet abortion is not cheap.
Megan,
Our CPC had OB/GYNs on staff to provide prenatal and delivery care for free or on a sliding scale.
Or women could go to a pro-life center – get counseling for free, and also get help with their pregnancy and the baby if they have financial needs – all without ever killing a child!
*sigh* I just don’t understand….it all sounds so simple to me!
I think at 18 weeks this clinic also gives the child a digoxin injection to the heart before dismemberment.
Ergh. How noble of them! It’s a bit like offering a cup of wine drugged with myrrh, before the crucifixion…
Megan wrote:
Do CPCs provide surgery free-of-charge (I certainly hope not)?
At the risk of violating my own moratorium on troll-feeding: why do you “hope not”, Megan? If the facilities and staff were certified and competent, wouldn’t you rather rejoice over “giving help to needy women”? I do wonder, though, if your standards for “qualified” personnel carries over to abortion facilities (whatever “qualified” means, regarding the dismemberment of a child)…
These are the kinds of blog posts I’ve been missing from Jill’s blog for some time now. Keep up the great work.
Cranky, thanks…. :) I appreciate your patience while I was out-of-pocket.
So, Gov. Parry redirects family planning funds to CPC’s and you wonder why there is no sliding scale anymore… I know that at my local planned parenthood in OR there is a sliding scale and abortions services only cost about $400…
So abortions are now just for rich women in Texas… Yea that’s not discrimination at all… And you guys call the Left elitist…
Federally protected reproductive freedom… but only if your wealthy enough…
Do you “like” your own comments Biggz?
Just curious. :)
I’m in New Mexico and regrettably had my child killed at Boyd’s clinic in Albuquerque. The counseling they offered then was free. I’ve shared my story here many times, but I’ll do it again.
The clinic staff told me counseling was free and I could meet with a counselor for free as many times as I needed to should I have any problems. One week after my abortion, I scheduled a counseling appointment because regret set in. I showed up for the appointment; my “counselor” did not. I talked to a medical assistant who told me it’s normal to have regret and I would eventually get over it. I explained I needed to talk to someone and didn’t understand why I was scheduled for an appointment when the counselor wasn’t in the office. The medical assistant told me if I felt that bad about the abortion I could wait to talk a nurse in between procedures. The medical assistant was not nice to me like she was the day of the abortion. She couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. I realized at that point I was not cared about like I was told I was before I killed my child.
Now this office is charging $50 for this? I am glad I an no longer pro-choice because how could I continue to support abortion when I was treated this way and what do I have to show for it, a dead child and a broken heart for her. No child deserves to die like mine did and no woman deserves to be treated like I was.
Biggz, If you take a look at the effective date on the price breakdown you’ll notice these prices went into effect on 06/29/2010, this is well before family planing funds were redirected in Texas this year. Most of these funds were redirected to County Health Clinics, so that women could get actual mammograms, rather than the imaginary kind that PP offers.
Carla – no not normally, however I was wondering if it was possible so I tried and it just took me to the edit my comment screen, so I just clicked cancel. I guess it did actually “like” it though… I was wondering if Ninek liked their own comments and so I tested it. Good catch though =)
RCH – Your “regret” for the following week or two is the chemical reaction that all post-pregnant women suffer whether it is from abortion, miscarriage, still birth, or normal birth. My sister had twins about 5 years ago and even with two beautiful baby girls looking up at her she was damn near suicidal for a couple of weeks. Did you have nobody to help you get through it? No family or friends to help you? My sister did not get mental health counseling after giving birth to her twins, it was her husband and my mom that got her through it.
Who Knows – Yes and the politicians in Texas have been saying they are going to take it away for more than a year… not to mention the federal funding fight that has been going on for over a year now… So… thanks for reading me the date off the pricing list… I guess…
Also you should know that PP does in fact do breast and cervical cancer screenings and there are many women around the country that would not have had their breast and cervical cancer diagnosed in time had Planned Parenthood caught them early. Ask a few of those women if they think Komen wasted it money by giving it to Planned Parenthood.
Just Google “Planned Parenthood saved my life” and you can read all the firsthand accounts yourself.
LOL!! Liking my own comments is very tempting indeed! I did it a couple times, but then I found it more satisfying not to and see what happens.
Biggz, gotta say your recent comment was a little cc-ish. She usually complains that not enough poor people can kill their babies. She even quotes a little song about it, an old jingle for cat food, if I remember correctly.
RCH, ‘eventually get over it’ sounds like the British version of ‘you’ll just have a bit of guilt.’ I never got over mine, but I did finally stop actively wishing for a time machine. Oddly, when I used to wish to go back in time, I always wanted to go back to being pregnant and let my child be born. Never, not even once, did I wish to go back and avoid the conception. Says a lot, doesn’t it?
Biggz, your reply to RCH is one big crock that effectively brushes aside any post natal feeling any woman has. I’ve given birth twice, and the 1st time was a traumatizing shoulder dystocia compounded by a severe meconium asperation and hopoxic brain injury that landed baby in NICU for 32 days. Niether of which resulted in a “chemical reaction” that left me clinically depressed and certainly not “nearly suicidal”. Yes some, SOME woman may experience hormon fluxuation that MAY lead to depression, isolation, and/or helplessness which may in turn contribute to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, or negative feeling towards the baby. This is NOT something ‘normal’ that always happens and the woman should be expecting. Yeah, MAYBE RCH was suffering from the sudden shift in hormones which was affecting her mood. Or maybe she was experiencing a situational mood shift. She had just been instrumental in the death of an innocent. Anyone with half a brain and a smidge of heart would feel depressed and guilty! Either way she reached for help and was turned aside because the pro-aborts are the real ‘fetus cult’, they could care less about the woman, all they want is the dead child!
And furthermore, when you give birth, even if the babe is stillborn, in a reputable practice, be that homebirth, birth center, or hospital, a newly post partum woman is screened for potential depression issues and given the help they need. Many private insurance companies even place their own call to the mom a few weeks after birth to screen for potential problems. Has anyone EVER heard of an abortion clinic that provided, included in the cost of their gruesome deadly ‘birth’ a 2 day post partum physical and mental screening, and a 6 week post partum physical and mental screening? How about even a 2 week phone call for screening purposes? Abortion clinics don’t care about women, they care about abortions. Their patient is the baby, their macabe treatment is lethal, so there is no reason for follow up.
RCH,
Thank you for sharing your story. I love having you here!!
Biggz,
You don’t get to tell post abortive moms how it goes. You don’t get to tell us about our own regret. You like to think that you do, but you don’t. WE get to tell you what abortion has done in our lives and you get to put a sock in it.
Biggz,
So Gov. Parry (sic) redirects family planning funds to CPC’s (sic)…So abortions are now just for rich women in Texas…Yea (sic) that’s not discrimination at all…Federally protected reproductive freedom…but only if your (sic) wealthy enough…
You’re having the siccups. Appropriate.
Biggz: Discrimination? Heck, I’d call it affirmative action on behalf of lower income unborn. I agree that we need an equal right to life for the unborn children of the well-to-do, however.
Hey, is Biggz actually Ruth Bader Ginsberg?? I see a resemblance!!
Biggz,
It appears SWMC does not recieve state funds, nor were they even registered to recieve them ever from what I can see, I even searched by doctor. Their decision to up the prices is probably a result of increased costs due to the new location or greed, but that’s just my guess.
I’m not arguing that PP does not provide any medical services, they just provide very limited services, and a breast exam is not a mammogram. It would be much better to send women to actual comprehensive health clinics that can address a whole range of health issues. That is what the change of funding allowed for. Women still have access to all the same services (and more) allowed for by the original funding, it is just now going to places that do not kill the unborn.
Biggz’ comment that regret following abortion is attributable to “hormones” is about one of the most sick, ruthless comments I have seen here. Directly to a person who opened up with a very private, difficult issue.
If Biggz can possibly see how terrible that comment was, an apology would be in order.
Sick.
Megan: you can probably go visit a local CPC and learn all you want, as long as you are respectful and not disruptive while there.
(Maybe you have – at our local CPC, they are pretty sure that fake clients come in occasionally just to figure out what is done – while they likely could just ask for info and a tour – of course, a counseling session is private, but the training is pretty standard, as is the counseling protocol, so it can be described pretty well.)
What surgeries would you want them to do there? Why do they need a surgeon?
CPCs usually have connections with local OBs, etc.
We patronized a local OB, til she moved a way, due to her support for the local CPC we support — CPCs pretty much all have such support and connections.
No worries – CPCs are connected to the services and professionals needed to help women face pregnancy.
Biggz says:
September 20, 2011 at 6:54 pm
“RCH – Your “regret” for the following week or two is the chemical reaction that all post-pregnant women suffer whether it is from abortion, miscarriage, still birth, or normal birth. My sister had twins about 5 years ago and even with two beautiful baby girls looking up at her she was damn near suicidal for a couple of weeks. Did you have nobody to help you get through it? No family or friends to help you? My sister did not get mental health counseling after giving birth to her twins, it was her husband and my mom that got her through it.”
It was this mentality that drove me to attempted suicide twice. Comments such as yours is what I received from pro-choice friends which made me feel like something was wrong with me for having regret. Family was did not understand either. So of course it was easy for pro-choice me to truly believe something was wrong with me. My doctor wanted to put me on anti-depressants. My family counselor blamed religion for my guilt. I was not religious at all so that wasn’t the answer. The help came from the post-abortive program through a CPC.
Now that I’m doing much better, comments such as yours blaming abortion guilt on hormones doesn’t bother me and once again proves how much pro-choicers don’t take women seriously when guilt is felt after abortion.
Ninek, I too wish I could go back in time and not have the abortion. The abortion I regret, not the conception.
RCH: Now that I’m doing much better, comments such as yours blaming abortion guilt on hormones doesn’t bother me and once again proves how much pro-choicers don’t take women seriously when guilt is felt after abortion.
RCH, I agree that Biggz was in error – generalizing without specific knowledge of your situation. He (?) did say “the following week or two,” so he wasn’t pronouncing on how you feel now, and it’s true that many (most?) women have some stuff going on then.
Anybody that says, “You should not feel regret,” is simply incorrect. That said, you see plenty of pro-lifers who act like it’s wrong to have no regrets, or to not regret it, on balance.
You also can’t correctly generalize about pro-choicers like that. Hey, I’m pro-choice and if you say you feel a certain way, then that’s it – I can’t argue with that. Feelings simply *are.*
I would like to see a good study of “all women who had abortions” or one from a representative sample, anyway, as to how much regret they had, long-term.