By Elise H. Peltier
ONE
The month after Josephine McKelvy graduated high school, she discovered she was pregnant. After a consultation with her physician, she felt wishy-washy whether to have the baby or not. She googled "counseling/abortion" centers in Lafayette and found "The Women's Center" on Harding Street.
The name sounded generic, but she thought they could offer some counsel. A peer counselor there listened to her situation, asked her very personal questions and then had her watch a video on the procedures of an abortion by a supposed doctor who used to perform the operation.
"It was a very gruesome-gory video that talked about killing human beings," McKelvy said. "How could you want an abortion after that?"
After the video, the counselor led McKelvy to a room where she had an ultrasound.
"I was seven weeks along at the time and the nurse kept pointing out for me to listen to the heartbeat," she said. "I found out later that you can't hear a heartbeat until later in the pregnancy and it was actually the Doppler of the machine I was hearing. I felt duped."
[According to a registered nurse at Lourdes, a sound fetal heartbeat occurs at around 20 weeks.]
McKelvy's little girl turned 4 a few weeks ago. Last spring semester, McKelvy graduated as the Outstanding Graduate of the College of Liberal Arts and she now works as a social worker for a local center.
"I don't regret my decision at all, but I wanted to make that choice and I felt the choice was forced on me."
After reflection and now working for social causes, McKelvy said she was dissatisfied with the center's services.
"After I said I wouldn't be giving up the baby, they didn't refer me anywhere, not to LA Moms, doctors...anything. Sure it was free, but it wasn't much in terms of services," she said. "They should offer services and resources if they pose as clinics.
"They were listed as abortion counseling, which is falsely advertised. Their agenda is to prevent abortions."
McKelvy made the choice to keep her baby because she had a supportive boyfriend, now husband, and family. At first she said she thought any choice about the baby would have been selfish on her part; either to keep, adopt or abort.
But in the end, she concluded she was lucky because she had an easy child: textbook delivery, the baby didn't get sick often and she has grown up to be a very smart 4-year-old.
However, McKelvy emphasized that everyone's situation is different.
"I would never tell another woman she could do it because I did it."
TWO
(Due to the nature of this story, the woman and her friend asked to remain anonymous. For reading purposes, the name Emilie will be used.)
Last May, Emilie discovered she was pregnant. As soon as she saw the plus sign, she knew she wanted to have an abortion. She was a junior at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the time and said she was confused at who she could talk to. She had read about the Pregnancy Crisis Center on South College and figured that would be a place to start.
She and a friend went to the center, which is in a building with medical offices, and both mentioned the brightly colored motif and baby paraphernalia strategically placed in the waiting rooms and along the hallways. They met with a peer counselor who asked her relentless questions about the father, family and sexual history. They asked if she were to have an abortion, if she would remain sexually active and they pushed abstinence.
"I was abstinent for a long time before my ex-boyfriend and I had hooked up during a phase when we were discussing whether or not we should have gotten back together, which is how I ended up pregnant" Emilie said.
"I knew I had to be counseled before I made the decision to have an abortion, which is why I went to this center. I felt like they were judging me though and if I didn't say what they wanted they kept pushing and asking me the same questions over and over."
The two then watched the procedure video [the same as Josephine].
"I remember being angry the whole time," said Emilie's friend. "I knew which way they were pushing and it was almost as if they were making up lies. They were not really on your side. But when something like that happens you just don't know where to go."
Emilie said she had to self-administer a pregnancy test and the peer counselors were very secretive about letting her out of the rooms, which she said was a good because it let people remain anonymous. After she tested positive, she was brought to another room to have an ultrasound. She left that day with a print out of her 11-week old fetus.
She was called back a day later to have another ultrasound because the other counselor was "in training". After the second round, Emilie still decided it was the best interest to have an abortion.
"The counselors did give me a tip to make sure that whoever performed the operation showed me their license," she said.
Emilie then set up an appointment at a Planned Parenthood in Baton Rouge. She drove there by herself and waited for almost eight hours before she was seen.
"There were 10 other people in the waiting room that morning when I got there," she said. "But some were probably for regular check ups. I guess they wanted to see if I would change my mind because I was the last person there."
During the ultrasound, she said she felt uncomfortable with the male doctor, but once they started the procedure he was very nice and she started to feel better.
"He told me that a lot of my pain would be caused because what I was doing, society tells me is wrong," she said. "When I didn't think about what was going on, it didn't hurt as bad. It felt like really bad [menstrual] cramps.
"I puked on myself and was sweating and almost passed out. I guess I was in shock."
Emilie received no medication until after the procedure, paid $400, then she drove back to Lafayette.
Three months later when she started to get a regular cycle again, she said the cramps reminded her of the procedure and she started to have "weird baby dreams".
"I don't regret it. I used to want to have kids and now I don't," she said. "It's weird. A month or two before I found out I was pregnant, I had given "Right to life" pamphlets to a girl I worked with who was pro-choice. I was so against abortion. But it takes experience before judgment."
Both Emilie and her friend are not from this area and come from very different backgrounds.
"People here don't realize I have no one," said Debbie. "There is such a family aspect here."
When asked about the ex-boyfriend, a troubled story was revealed. When asked about her family, she said her mother has to take care of her disabled step-father.
Emilie has since shared her story with numerous girls who have experienced similar situations and that she can openly talk about it if it comes up during the right time.
