[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HEALTH CARE REFORM--ONE GIRL'S TESTIMONY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  The House bill to have government take over health care contains 
section 2511 which would put clinics in our schools. Minnesota has 
experience with these clinics.
  Here is one girl's testimony:
  ``Hi. My name is Jamie. I hope my personal story and experience with 
the West Suburban Teen Clinic will convince you that bringing this 
clinic into the school campus will endanger the health of many 
students.
  ``At age 14, I was what you could describe as a rebellious teen. My 
parents had rules, like all parents, and tried their best to instill 
moral values in my life they hoped would guide me down the right road. 
But I chose a path that led to the West Suburban Teen Clinic. It was 
there I learned how easy it was to get birth control, morning-after 
pills, exams, condoms, or whatever else I needed to have sex and not 
tell my parents. I didn't even have to go to a real doctor.
  ``At the clinic, I was told my parents didn't have to know about any 
of my visits or what birth control the school clinic was giving me. The 
clinic made it so easy for me to have sex. They made it so easy to hide 
things from my mom and dad. After all, since it was my right not to 
tell them about birth control, they didn't need to know anything else 
about my life either. The teen clinic opened the door for me to lie and 
supported me in my deception. Looking back, I can see that their 
counseling affirmed a continuous pattern of lying, secrets, and cover-
up. This destroyed any mutual trust between my parents and me.
  ``The West Suburban Teen Clinic convinced me I was doing a good thing 
by going there because I was practicing safe sex. Was it safe to break 
the trust with the only people who really truly protected and cared 
about me? Was it safe when the clinic jumped at the chance to give the 
morning-after pill to a 14-year-old without revealing to me any of the 
negative health-risking side effects?
  ``They didn't even care who I was having sex with. Imagine, a 14-
year-old. I could have been having sex with an older man. It could have 
been rape. Anything. They never once took the time to ask me. I was so 
young. All I thought was, oh, I won't be getting pregnant if I take 
this morning-after pill. I was never given the facts about side 
effects.
  ``I went to the West Suburban Teen Clinic multiple times to get the 
morning-after pill. They would ask me if I needed a couple of back-up 
pills to keep in a friend's house just in case, or to hide at my own 
house so I wouldn't have to ride all the back way back to the clinic.
  ``I can honestly say that the clinic visits also had a very negative 
effect on my education. As I became more involved sexually and had more 
visits to the clinic, I would sit in class thinking about what courses 
and classes I could miss so I could make my school clinic visit for 
more pills and condoms before the end of the school day. It made it 
difficult for me to focus on my class assignments when I was thinking 
about a pelvic exam or the thought of having an STD or being pregnant.
  ``Now I'm 20 years old. I'm very concerned about the long-term damage 
to my health thanks to this so-called safe-sex clinic. They not only 
helped me hide things from my mom and dad, they hid the truth from me. 
The West Suburban Teen Clinic didn't care that I was a minor teen. They 
didn't care what the side effects of these pills would do to my 
reproductive system. And my body is messed up. They gave me pills and 
condoms and they left it to my parents to pick up the pieces.
  ``If only I knew what I know now, how the West Suburban Teen Clinic's 
advice and pills damaged me physically and emotionally, I could have 
prevented so many of the problems with my parents and my family. If 
only I had never gone there. And now you are bringing these clinics to 
all the high schools?
  ``You need to protect kids. You need to uphold the desires of 
parents, not the wishes of clinics that make money off kids' mistakes. 
My parents tried to protect me. The clinic took that right away. They 
took over the role that my parents were intended to have and they hid 
everything from them, the people who loved me the most.
  ``Please stop this clinic from coming in and ruining more kids' 
lives. I wish I could warn all the students at high schools about these 
clinics. They need to know about the physical and emotional damage that 
can be done by a pattern of pills and promiscuity. I wish I could tell 
them. I know the West Suburban Clinic won't.''
  Madam Speaker, this is a story of tragedy by one girl in Minnesota. 
Minnesota has experience with the school-based sex clinics that are 
being proposed in the bill that would have government take over health 
care in this country. Surely we can do better by our children than 
encouraging them to gain experience in a lifestyle that will bring them 
only heartache and perhaps physical devastation.

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