In a webcast sponsored by And Then There Were None, a pro-life group that helps abortion workers escape the abortion industry, a former abortion worker explains how overweight women were charged higher fees for their abortions than other women.
Shelley Guillory worked at the Delta Clinic, assisting with abortions from 8 to 16 weeks. In a previous article, Live Action quoted her description of the horrific and filthy conditions at Delta:
It was very, very – it was horrendous. I mean, it was filthy. You still had blood splattered from, I mean, weeks of procedures ago that were still on the wall. This building was not cleaned on a daily basis. It wasn’t even cleaned on a monthly basis. Our buildings got cleaned when we knew the state was coming in.
Abortion is presented a sterile, simple procedure, but in reality, it is very violent. Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist, explains the violence of even a first trimester procedure, in which a preborn child — who already has a heartbeat, brain waves, and who can make facial expressions — is brutally killed:
In addition to the filthy conditions, however, there was one more humiliation waiting for women who went to Delta for abortions. Guillory explains that heavier women were charged more for their abortions than thinner women:
The one thing I found about our clinic that was humiliating and dehumanizing was that if a larger woman came in, she was charged an additional $150 to $200 because she created a little bit more difficulty because of her size. Whether the abortion was complicated or not. Because she was large, she was charged extra.
Abby Johnson explains that charging overweight women more for their abortions is not limited to Delta – other facilities do it as well. Johnson says:
We’ve heard that before. It’s not something we did at our clinic, but it’s something we’ve heard before, that they basically had an overweight fee for women who weighed a little more. They would charge more for the abortion procedure, which is so vile and so anti-empowerment – I mean like, how good does that make you feel? Like, you’re over 195 pounds, you’re getting a fee for that. It’s so anti-woman and so against everything they say they are about.… I hear all the time – Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry, talking about how we don’t want to shame women, no shame, no stigma, blah blah blah, unless you’re certain size, then we’re going to charge you more to perform an abortion.
Abby Johnson states it perfectly. The abortion industry claims to be pro-woman. It claims that abortion empowers women. Yet in some facilities, women are shamed for being overweight and actually charged more for their abortions. Treating women this way is far from empowering. Abortion facilities, including Planned Parenthood, exploit women in many ways, and charging overweight women more is just one more example of the lack of regard that the abortion industry has for women. Some abortionists have even been said to favor “the pretty girls” over other women:
Delta is not the only facility to overcharge overweight women, and certainly not the only facility to operate in dirty and unsanitary conditions. The filthy conditions and exploitive pricing that occurred at Delta show that Delta did not value women or care about their well-being. Delta was there to take their money and abort their babies, but their safety and dignity were not priorities. The abortion industry exploits women, plain and simple.
