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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1980)
local THE BATTALION MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1980 Page 3 p a 4Y $0 Three centers help parents before, after conception IM complex to open with sports celebration 3ff( ;s r b etie: don By LORI SHULER Special to the Battalion Where can women in Bryan- College Station go for counseling on ob. sex, birth control and unexpected question, cons(i|: pregnancies? Can they expect con- vomen merit the ajficlentiality, proper prescriptions, whether their enip 1 s afe and clean labs and reliable coun- rmined merely bvlsseling? Can teen-age girls find a sym- ket. This suggest- pathetic listener rather than a lec- submit, that dll ture on morals? Ires a newdefinM* Three clinics in Bryan-College >ng time, it was i : Station are designed to fill these re ality could he reaiLquirements. While each maintains a g the obstacles steady stream of patients, many in becoming full ( women don’t know the centers exist labor force. Thd and are uncertain about the services h of Sweden s they provide. ack as 1939, fores! At the Women’s Referral Center re prohibited Ik.:;inBCollege Station women are ause of niarrki greeted by a young, friendly woman men weregivenj named Casey Rhea, center director, ix months after r . She has a smile like a very best friend was later extenc and her voice is calm as she radiates s. Khpathy and coolheadness — traits tant reform mil! she must use on a daily basis, i the right to filfv: ; “Women have to be careful be- ums, therebyv cause you never know who you can wn wages. trust. We re here to help women find hese changes, who they can trust,” Rhea said, that they couldi ;' Just a couple of blocks behind e were not eiiosi; Northgate is a similar type of clinic o care for thei: with a more familiar name — Plan- The govemmei ned Parenthood of Brazos County, ich facilities, I ; The reception room is filled with iced. racks of flyers on sex and birth con- if that aspect oft trol information. A poster on the wall ed, women would sums up the clinics’s purpose: “Take ith householddi Thy Pill.” /cd hold part-!:::, Cyndi Fehlmann is the reception- gard their domest 1st and a counselor. She receives ab out six phone calls an hour from peo- r, perhaps, lies c pie needing information or wanting the system, solh to set up an appointment, employedpart-fc|, "Sometimes I feel like an informa- nsibilitieswitht: tion center for birth control, but ay be a utopiai! I that’s okay because that’s what we’re lyhopeforsas Here for,” said Fehlmann. ich, in the ettv Cotton expresses similar hreatened wM, (thoughts about the Brazos Valley jGommunity Action Agency Family mtes on sociali d’ffimnng Center, which she directs. ;bladet, a Swedish, The patient is the most important Ht of our clinic,” Cotton said. “We |jy to have a friendly atmosphere and Sfe cater to and help the patients as much as possible.” ^ Services at each of the clinics vary rat all three provide both pregnancy tests and counseling. At the of time and m W ° men ’ S Referral Center and Plan - ; government issj® U.S. Travel SeraH 1 was an unnecessrB “can no longer a® on-a-year Nation!jp iducts numerot'-jra as an $18,600b'lp ; ruher industn* )n why people nil ns. nillion a year is auffeured limousi tary servants; and * i Conservation (■ >ays "does not ail needs of uns ■ wasteful, unnecef nding does not tvcs to suggest oked closely eiK*| rssional budget e j rst thing these ol ucial programs-J it — when they the fat.” ned Parenthood pregnancy tests cost $3, while at Family Planning all charges are based on the patient’s income. Results of a pregnancy test are found in about 214 minutes. “We average 35 patients per day and of these three to eight are pre gnancy tests, about one-half of which are positive,” said Fehlmann. Rhea said she has about 150 pa tients per month, mostly for pre gnancy tests and subsequent coun seling and referrals. Cotton esti mated 200 to 250 patients visit Fami ly Planning each month for tests and all types of counseling. All three said they will perform a pregnancy test for a woman of any age without parental consent. Both Family Planning and Planned Pa renthood also do venereal disease screening. Once a woman discovers she is pregnant she must then consider her options and make a decision. This is where counseling comes in. All three clinics employ trained, but not pro fessional, counselors. “I am often the only person avail able at a very emotional and trying time of a woman’s life,” said Rhea. “I just try to calm her and reassure her that there are people who want to help her.” “Our motto is ‘every child should be a wanted child’ and we operate on that basis, ” said Fehlmann. She said at Planned Parenthood a woman is given her choice— to keep the baby, give it up for adoption or terminate the pregnancy — and is counseled if she has any question. Both Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Referral Center will give adoption agency and abortion clinic referrals. Family Planning, howev er, only counsels women about their options. “Referring pregnant women to abortion clinics and adoption agen cies is not part of our job because we are funded with federal money. However, if a woman needs these kinds of services, we usually refer her to the Women’s Referral Cent er,” Cotton said. Both Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Referral Center are funded through private funds. They each have a list of approved abortion clinics in various cities. The usual price for an abortion is $175 and up, depending on how advanced the pre gnancy is. Centers like ours help women who have decided on an abortion find the best clinic for them so they don’t just walk into an abortion clinic and not know anything about it’,, Rhea said. There are no abortion clinics in Bryan-College Station. Rhea said there are no doctors in the city who will perform an abortion. She said although the Women’s Referred Cen ter is funded by the Ladies Center in Austin, she refers women to centers in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin depending on their personal preference. “Once a pregnant patient has de cided she wants an abortion, I don’t care where she goes as long as she goes to a good clinic. I want to make sure she gets good treatment — good emotional care is as important as good physical care,” Rhea said. Besides keeping the baby or ter minating the pregnancy, a woman can give the baby up for adoption — which rarely happens. Rhea said ab out 75 percent of her pregnant pa tients choose abortion and the rest choose to keep the baby. Fehlmann and Cotton agreed only once or twice a year do they see a woman decide to give the baby up for adoption. Rhea said part of the reason more women don’t choose adoption is be cause there is no place in Bryan- College Station for them to stay or to receive financial aid and prenatal care until the baby is born. In addi tion, adoption is a much more diffi cult decision than abortion because a woman realizes she will have to live with the fact she has a child some where in the world for the rest of her life. All three clinics are interested in keeping unwanted pregnancies from occuring, so both Planned Parent hood and Family Planning prescribe pills and other methods for prevent ing conception. The Women’s Refer ral Center does not offer this service, but Rhea said she has literature on the different methods and refers women needing birth control to one of the other centers. Both of these clinics employ a family planning nurse practitioner, a ry to the stand:®- ! says (Baptist!® historical and Ik® ; slightingly ads j McCall veiyds*. object to balaitf : 8' :t stated that k’j| 1 ories. | .ji® say to you, Jlrj out into the mV editorial critic® ust how long)®' lenn R. Baile) * fartha Jeanl I I Grab | I registered nurse with family plan ning training. She performs a com plete medical examination on every woman requesting birth control. “We make it a practice not to prac tice medicine so women with any thing unusual are sent to a doctor,” Fehlmann said. Rhea said she refers patients to one of the clinics rather than a pri vate doctor because better counsel ing is received at a clinic than at a doctor’s office. “Often doctors won’t explain ab out the side effects of birth control pills or talk to the woman about her feelings toward certain methods. Also, you may have to wait longer at a clinic but it’s less expensive,” said Rhea. “We provide the same services for less cost than a gynecologist who would charge $30 to $50 for a medical exam, whereas we charge $15,” said Fehlmann. Birth control pills can run $5 to $7 per month when prescribed by a physician and bought at a pharmacy. Planned Parenthood, however, sells them for 75 cents for each one-month packet. Other methods of birth con trol are comparatively inexpensive. By JANA SIMS Campus Reporter A 48-hour softball tournament, a Sports Club Fair and a variety of con tests this weekend will serve as the grand opening of the Penberthy In tramural Field and a celebration of its namesake. Even though the field has been in use for three years, the building was not finished until last summer and the opening activities were originally scheduled to accompany last fall’s in stallation of the lights. The official opening ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, with the presenta tion of a plaque for the field’s Labs set appliance safety regula tions United Press ginternational NEW YORK. — New safety re quirements have been added to in struction manuals for consumer elec trical appliances approved by the nonprofit testing organization, Underwriter’s Laboratories, says Hada Lugo de Slosser of Cornell University’s cooperative extension service. Samples of the general safety in structions for electric ranges include: — Be sure the appliance is proper ly installed and grounded by a qual ified technician. — Never use the range for heating the room. — Don’t wear loose-fitting or hanging garments when using the range. They could catch fire easily. building. Walter L. Penberthy, for whom the field is named, came to Texas A&M in 1926 and started the formal ized intramural program. He was in tramural director for about 40 years. The softball tournament, open to students and faculty, begins at 6 p.m. following the opening cere monies and ends at 6 p.m. on Sun day. There is a $35 entry fee per softball team. The fee will go to pay officials and purchase trophies for first and second place windners in each of three divisions: men, wo men and co-rec. The Sports Club Fair will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and will consist of demonstrations by the gymnastics, Roadrunners, polo, fencing, women’s rugby and Tai Kwo Do teams. A variety of contests will also take place Saturday, including tobacco spitting, home run hitting and Fris- bee throwing contests. A new game — the lap-sit contest — also will be held. The softball tournament is limited to 70 teams. Entries close Tuesday. The tournament schedule will be posted Wednesday in the Intramur al Office. • • • ZACHAK1AS— GREENHOUSE dub & game parlor never a cover charge POOL TOURNAMENT TONIGHT 8 P.M. 1201 Hwy. 30 in the Briarwood Apts., College Station 693-9781 \L U al i >4 TECHNICS TRIPLE TREAT The 3-way bass reflex linear phase bookshelf speaker powered by the 25 watt per channel receiver with only 0.04% THD. Add the semi-automatic belt-drive turnt able with an ADC QLM 34 cartridge and you have a true triple threat! oo Reg. Price $ 640 SALE PRICE 449 AUDIO 707 Texas Ave. 696-5719 mo ne f<