Planned Parenthood South Austin

Planned Parenthood South Austin is operated by Planned Parenthood of Austin Surgical and Sexual Health Services, one of three entities that make up Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region.

Personnel

• Heikki H. Saarikoski, abortionist

Controversies

Facilitated Appointment of Sex-Selection Abortion

On April 11, 2012, Live Action carried out an undercover investigation at the Planned Parenthood South Austin abortion business. The video footage showed a counselor named "Rebecca" at Planned Parenthood South Austin encouraging a woman to obtain a late-term abortion because she was purportedly carrying a girl and wanted to have a boy. A partial transcript is below:

PP: What are you aiming more towards? I see that you say that you want to terminate if it’s a girl, so are you just wanting to continue the pregnancy in the meantime, or what?

Woman: Yeah, I think that would be the, um, the plan... So, I guess one of the things I wanted to talk about in terms of the termination–do you think–is it–? We want to get pregnant again after, as soon as we can, obviously, because we’re trying for that boy... So if I waited to be–to check the gender, would that be–would the termination then be more dangerous to me or anything like that?

PP: It’s not more dangerous. I mean, there are risks. Let me see. Your last menstrual period was February... So right now, that puts you at 10 weeks tomorrow. Almost... The abortion covers you up until 23 weeks... So it’s a little over 5 months. Little... And usually at 5 months is usually when they detect, you know, whether or not it’s a boy or a girl... So you would be, like, right, sometimes they can tell at four. I mean, I’ve seen that happen, but it just depends... We do ultrasounds, but not, you know, to determine whether or not it’s a boy or a girl. I’m pretty sure you can do that. And I’m pretty sure that they could probably tell you. I haven’t–I don’t see why not; they’re doing the ultrasound. If they can see if it’s a boy or a girl, they’ll do it. But we’ve never had anybody just come in just for that, you know, but I don’t see why not.

Woman: Do you think–there were some friends and different people who’ve like I feel like I’ve been experiencing a little bit of judgment ‘cause they know that, you know, ‘cause I kind of said we would–yeah, and that basically, you know, if it’s a girl, that my husband and I, just, we want two, I already have a girl, so, and we want a boy and a girl.... And, um, so I feel like worried that–you know, I mean, do you know a doctor who could–do you think I should go and just ask for an ultrasound and just not tell him that I’m gonna terminate if it’s a girl, or–I just feel like there’s been some judgment for my–

PP: Um, I mean, to be honest with you, um, I would probably think so, just because we’ve had even clinicians, I mean, regular doctors that actually have even told women, you know, you can’t go and terminate after you’re 16 weeks. You know? Which is not true, but, you know, they–a lot of doctors, you know–they’ll place judgment because of the fact that the brain is already developed, every–a lot, pretty much everything’s already developed.

Woman: So, um, so then I could, um–then we could probably, you’re thinking, if we did that, we could probably get pregnant again soon after?

PP: Oh yeah. I’ve had two abortions and I have four kids. (Laughter) Okay, so, again, from experience, no. There’s nothing wrong with getting pregnant immediately afterwards.

Woman: Okay. Alright. Okay. And do you know any ways that we could try more for a boy? I feel like, I don’t want to have to have to have a termination over and over.

PP: Right. You know what? That’s a hard one. I honestly don’t know, ’cause it took me four times before I had my girl. I had three boys... ...What I just found out is that basically we’re not–they don’t do any type of diagnosis. So we don’t diagnose. So we actually wouldn’t be able to say whether or not it’s a boy or a girl, we could say if it’s one or two, but we can’t say if it’s a boy or a girl... So no matter what, you would have to go to an OB/GYN for that, and then also, again, sorry, they can’t diagnose so I mean they said that we couldn’t say how many abortions you could have as far as, you know, because you’re trying for your boy...

Woman: Okay, I’ll just put June 20th, just ‘cause it’s around there. So then I would want to schedule an ultrasound with an OB around then, and then I would still be able to come back here for a termination if it was a girl.

PP: Mhm. And that would be in July...

Woman: Okay, all right. So I will call you back, and–I mean, obviously if it’s a girl I’ll call you back, and if not, then–

PP: Right. And I’ll give you a–let me give you our card so you can have. Um, actually, I forgot; the number’s right here, that you call... and I hope that you do get your boy.

Contact Details

• Address: 201 East Ben White Blvd., Austin, TX 78704
• Phone: 512-276-8000