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THE BATTALION
MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1980
Page 3 p a
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Three centers help parents
before, after conception
IM complex to open
with sports celebration
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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
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“can no longer a®
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i Conservation (■
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rst thing these ol
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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:®-
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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.
• • •
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