Just a medical facility: What an Abortion Clinic looks like: Good People helping those with legal medical needs.

http://www.alternet.org/gender/pro-life-fanatics-want-you-think-abortion-clinics-are-terrifying-heres-what-one-really-looks?akid=13911.294211.3bDquG&rd=1&src=newsletter1049468&t=16

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Pro-Life Fanatics Want You to Think Abortion Clinics Are Terrifying—Here’s What One Really Looks Like

I don't want other women to be afraid of abortion the way I was; I want them to know a "clinic" can look like this.

By Danielle Campoamor / Salon

January 23, 2016

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Anti-abortion activists march on January 25, 2013 in Washington, DC. The US House of Representatives approved a Republican measure Tuesday restricting abortion to the first 20 weeks after conception, one of the most stringent pro-life bills in the past de

When I hung up the phone after scheduling my abortion, I felt relieved. I knew I had set in motion the necessary steps that would allow me to make the right decision for myself, my future, my body and my (at the time) partner. I knew I was going to have access to an abortion in a relatively safe environment, administered by trained medical healthcare professionals and in a clean, sterile room. My hand was still holding my phone when I let out a large sigh, confident in my decision and thankful for my ability to make it.

But as my hand slid my phone onto the counter so I could continue to go about my day, I felt the very real chill of panic. While I knew where I was going to have my abortion and how my abortion would be administered, I had no idea what an abortion clinic actually looked like. I had never been inside one before, so my only frame of reference was Hollywood representations and manipulated pro-life paraphernalia. Before I knew it, my mind was bombarded with terrifying images of cold operating rooms and intimidating instruments. I felt like I was going into surgery, that I’d be entering a room that was medical and impersonal and nothing short of terrifying. 

If only I had known then what I know now. The moments I spent nervous and uneasy, pacing in my living room with a sense of unnecessary anxiety should have been moments of relaxed confidence. An abortion clinic is not a terrifying place of death, like many pro-life advocates would want women to believe. Shouldn’t an abortion clinic be, not an operating room or even a doctor’s office, but a safe, comfortable and welcoming place that makes women feel at ease with their medical decisions and medical procedures?