Clinics - Planned Parenthood and Fertility Clinics

What Is A Clinic?

One word we hear a lot these days in connection with any type of health issue is "clinic". There are clinics for all kinds of things - eye clinics, health clinics, and even sports clinics. For our use, Dictionary.com defines the noun clinic as:

a place, as in connection with a medical school or a hospital, for the treatment of nonresident patients, sometimes at low cost or without charge.
A group of physicians, dentists, or the like, working in cooperation and sharing the same facilities
a class or group convening for instruction or remedial work or for the diagnosis and treatment of specific problems: a reading clinic; a speech clinic; a summer baseball clinic for promising young players.

What Kinds of Clinics Will Pregnant Women Use?

A woman who is pregnant will eventually find herself in a clinic of some sort. Perhaps it will be an ultrasound clinic where she will have an opportunity to take a peek inside her own uterus to see the growing life of her baby. She may require special supports for her body while she is carrying her baby, as a result of a physiological issue she is dealing with. In such cases, there are clinics that specialize in body supports like body girdles and braces, as well as clinics for shoes and orthopedic supports. The weight of a pregnancy has the potential to cause foot problems for some women and having a good clinic for support shoes is a blessing.

The Pregnancy Clinic and The Midwife

There are wonderful pregnancy clinics provided by hospitals and other organizations as well as by midwives. These pregnancy clinics give a mother-to-be information and education on prenatal care, post-natal care, and natural childbirth information. In a pregnancy clinic, a woman can learn about breastfeeding and gain insight and information on the things she's going through in her pregnancy. A midwife can provide fetal monitoring services as well, keeping an eye on the growing baby.

If the expectant mother has opted to have a midwife assist her throughout her pregnancy and delivery, usually she is able to be a part of all of the functions around the pregnancy. In a formal clinical situation, in a medical clinic, a midwife may be included in the examinations and be apprised of certain medical information that will help her to better assist her client. However, there are some obstetricians and ob-gyn clinics that frown upon midwifery and may give both the woman and her midwife a hard time.

There are times when conception has been difficult for a couple and they may use the services of a fertility clinic in order to conceive a pregnancy. Fertility clinics provide help, guidance, and counseling services to couples who want to have children but are encountering difficulties. Here again, a midwife may be introduced into the equation, and depending upon the attitudes of the doctors, she may be able to be part of the process from conception through birth.

Abortion Clinics - Planned Parenthood

What has been of great interest is the appearance of health clinics in retail establishments. Target Clinics are now open and offer fast medical care for minor illnesses and injuries, immunizations and other services, like pregnancy testing. Other retail clinics are opening in malls and shopping centers to provide quick service for health issues that don't require intensive diagnosis and care. Now you can do your shopping and have a pregnancy test all in the same place.

One clinic that has gained a great deal of notoriety over the past few decades is the abortion clinic. The foremost name associated with them is Planned Parenthood, which is the leading provider of surgical abortions in the United States. The organization began in Brooklyn, New York as a birth control clinic started by Margaret Sanger. It was originally the American Birth Control League that was founded in 1921 and the name was changed in 1942 to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.