Former Clinic Worker: Laurel Guymer Archives

Former clinic worker: “certain types of women” were encouraged to abort

Former abortion clinic worker Laurel Guymer said:

Women who were poor, unemployed, too young, too old, working in the sex industry, not married, had no steady partner, or suffered any mental instability were reassured by the clinic staff and society that it was best they have an abortion. It is clear that society fears a certain type of woman having a baby and I found that many of the doctors and nurses I met in the abortion clinic were not any different despite their supposed commitment to feminist principles.

Melinda Tankard Reist Giving Sorrow Words: Women’s Stories of Grief after Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007) 31

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Former clinic worker criticized for not forcing women into abortions

From former clinic worker Laurel Guymer:

What if they [the abortion patients] said “no” when entering the operating room? In this instance I felt compelled to reassure them they didn’t have to go through with it and walked them back to the change room. This was not welcomed by my colleagues at the clinic. I was reminded that this is a business and any slowing in the production line costs money. Constant threats were made that the anesthesiologist had another list at another hospital and any more discussion with the uncertain woman was wasting precious time. Their patronizing remarks that some women will never be 100% sure, and that I should encourage them to go on and get the abortion over quickly, were not comforting: I could no longer participate.

Melinda Tankard Reist Giving Sorrow Words: Women’s Stories of Grief after Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007) 170

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