Katherine’s Planned Parenthood birth-control appointment

Katherine’s Planned Parenthood birth-control appointment marks a decisive step from thinking about sexual responsibility to taking practical action. She contacts Planned Parenthood of New York City, attends a session at the Margaret Sanger Clinic, and, after counseling and a physical examination, chooses the Pill. The visit is significant not only because she leaves with a prescription and a two-month supply, but because she frames pregnancy prevention as her own responsibility and pursues it through a process she has initiated herself.

Background and decision

The appointment grows out of Katherine’s concern about the consequences of sex and her wish to make a considered decision about contraception. Her parents’ reactions to her relationship with Michael form part of the surrounding tension: she has said that her mother will let her go somewhere, while her father seems hesitant to agree. Later, her father asks whether she needs money for her day in New York. That question establishes some practical family support for the trip, but it does not mean that the appointment itself is presented as a joint decision or that her parents arrange it for her.

Katherine prepares by reading the informational pamphlets she has received. The material prompts her to think that she knows enough to offer a service at school, particularly because a girl in her gym class had not understood how intercourse could lead to pregnancy despite already having had sex. The observation gives Katherine’s preparation a purpose beyond her own immediate needs: she recognizes that the information can be unevenly available to other young people. But she does not let that possible future project replace the immediate task of finding care for herself.

During study hall the next morning, she uses a phone booth near the school office to call Planned Parenthood of New York City. She asks for information about obtaining birth control, and the person who answers transfers her to someone who can arrange an appointment. Katherine agrees to make one, provides her name, and is directed to the Margaret Sanger Clinic at 22nd Street and 2nd Avenue for 3:00. Her father’s offer of money on Friday morning precedes the New York visit; Katherine’s own call and appointment-making have already set it in motion.

Consultation and choice

Katherine arrives at the clinic at 2:45. Seven other people are there for the group session, including two young couples. A physician and a social worker lead a general discussion of birth-control methods and invite questions. Katherine does not ask any. The format first gives her an overview of the available methods in a group setting, then moves her into an individual conversation about her own circumstances.

That private conversation is called Personal Counseling. Katherine meets with Linda Kolker, a social worker, and they talk briefly about the weather and Katherine’s family before Kolker asks why she has come. Katherine explains that she thinks preventing pregnancy is her responsibility. Kolker asks whether she has one special boyfriend and whether she has discussed the matter with him. The exchange places Katherine’s decision within her relationship with Michael, but the available account does not state what she answers to the question about discussing contraception. The clearly established point is her own explanation of why she has come: she regards preventing pregnancy as something she must take responsibility for.

A physical examination follows the counseling. It includes measurements of weight and blood pressure, a routine breast examination with instructions on monthly self-checks, and Katherine’s first pelvic examination. She tries to appear accustomed to the process, but the doctor recognizes her nervousness and encourages her to relax. He explains what he is doing, including the use of a speculum, and completes a Pap smear and a gonorrhea culture. The account presents these as parts of the clinic visit rather than as separate dramatic incidents: Katherine receives an examination, is given explanations, and continues through the appointment even though some of it is unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

When the doctor asks whether she has a preference about birth-control devices, Katherine says that she would like to try the Pill. He sees no medical reason she should not, noting that she is in excellent health, and sends her back to Kolker. Kolker gives Katherine a prescription and a two-month supply of pills, explains their use, and reviews possible side effects. Katherine is instructed to call the clinic immediately if those side effects occur. Thus the visit ends with both a chosen method and specific directions for follow-up; the appointment is not simply an information session but results in a concrete means of contraception and medical guidance.

Disclosure and immediate aftermath

After leaving the clinic, Katherine takes a taxi to Penn Station and catches the 5:17 train, eager to tell Michael what has happened. On returning home, she learns from her mother that Michael has the flu. Two days later Katherine comes down with the same illness, with a fever of 104 degrees, severe difficulty swallowing, a headache, and weakness and dizziness so pronounced that she cannot get to the bathroom alone. A doctor prescribes aspirin, bed rest, and fluids. The illness delays the conversation she had hoped to have after the appointment; the narrative does not suggest that the clinic visit caused her sickness.

When Katherine and Michael are together again, she does not initially explain the news. Instead, she takes a package of pills from her pocketbook and holds it up for him to see. He recognizes that she means the Pill, and Katherine tells him she went to Planned Parenthood in New York. His response is surprise at her resourcefulness, and she answers that the decision makes sense. The scene makes the outcome of the appointment visible between them: what had been a private consultation and prescription becomes information Katherine chooses to share with her boyfriend. The exchange confirms that she obtained the pills, while preserving the distinction between her independent action and Michael’s later awareness of it.

Significance in the wider story

The appointment gives narrative weight to sexual responsibility by showing it as a sequence of specific actions: reading information, making a call, traveling to the clinic, speaking with a counselor, undergoing an examination, choosing a method, and receiving instructions. Katherine’s stated sense of responsibility is therefore joined to the practical work of seeking care. The episode neither turns that work into a simple declaration of independence from her family nor presents her decision as something Michael makes for her. Her own initiative is central, even as the counselor asks about her relationship and her father helps with money for the day in New York.

The later account of Sybil’s childbirth and plans for adoption provides a separate contrast in the book’s treatment of pregnancy and choice. Sybil says she intends to get an IUD because she does not plan to give up sex, and she hopes that a future baby will be one she can keep; the baby she has just given birth to is due to leave with adoptive parents. These circumstances are not consequences of Katherine’s appointment, but they make its subject part of a broader narrative in which contraception, pregnancy, and the conditions surrounding parenthood remain consequential. Katherine’s clinic visit focuses on preventing a pregnancy and obtaining a method she can use; Sybil’s story shows a different set of circumstances after pregnancy has occurred.

The appointment also falls within a period of transition. In June, Katherine reflects that the month marks the end of one life and the beginning of another; graduation, departure for camp, and separation from Michael soon give that change concrete form. Against those later changes, the clinic visit stands as an earlier act of preparation within their relationship. It does not settle what will happen between them or guarantee that their plans will endure. It establishes something narrower and more definite: Katherine seeks information and contraception because she considers avoiding pregnancy her responsibility, and she later tells Michael what she has done.