Planned Parenthood director, Abby Johnson, is responsible for the day to day operations of the clinic.

The fight of their lives

"We are pro-family, and we are trying to help people develop healthy families."

By: Ryan Huff

Posted: 7/10/08

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."

The Planned Parenthood clinic also interacts with the community through educational programs.

"We have a very successful health education program," Johnson said. "We often get called by different groups at A&M and Blinn to visit their classroom or group and talk about healthy sexuality."

This outreach does not necessarily focus on services provided by Planned Parenthood, but instead works to educate audiences about sexual health or diseases.

In some ways, this interaction translates to the state and national level as well. Planned Parenthood is constantly affected by legislation in both spheres. Although the landmark decision Roe v. Wade still protects the right to abortion, there are many other decisions that have since deteriorated this right. One such decision was made on June 27, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Rounds that a South Dakota law requiring doctors to inform patients seeking an abortion that the procedure would "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," would be allowed.

Johnson said that the most important method to combat this type of legislation as a clinic is to educate clients about the importance and methods of voting and getting involved in lobbying.

"Helping clients understand how important their voice is, just their one voice, can be really instrumental," she said. The clinic aids clients in registering to vote and informing them about how each program affects them personally. "That's part of why we're here. Planned Parenthood is all about educators. All of us who work here are educators."

On the other side of this legislation, however, is opposition formed by multiple pro-life groups, such as The Coalition for Life. This resistance has led the clinic i n Bryan to be labeled by many as the most protested abortion clinic in the nation.

"We would like to think that it would just stop at the fence," Johnson said. "But it doesn't."

Protestors target patients and staff members. While patients are normally called out to and handed pamphlets from the protestors, staff members have found everything from heckling to postcards sent by protestors to their homes to protestors following them around town. Despite an attempt to disregard these protestors, Johnson admits that "the only time that it gets more intense are on the days we do perform abortions."

According to Johnson, protestors call and make fake appointments in order to find out days that abortions will be performed. On these days, protestors show up in greater numbers.

"That's pretty intense for our clients. People have made this difficult decision anyway, and [the protestors] never know the reason [for the abortion]," Johnson said. "It's a very intense time for those women, but we just try to be as caring and as open as possible."

Regardless of the criticism against Planned Parenthood and the clinic, Johnson said they aren't the villains they are portrayed to be.

"In the end, we're all pro-life. We are pro-family, and we are trying to help people develop healthy families."

Regarding her work and the work of the other staff members at the clinic, Johnson believes that their role goes well beyond the confines of a day job.

"You have to be passionate about what we're doing and our mission here," she said. "You really have to be able to feel it in your heart enough to help someone else feel that passion too."