Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is the setting of a brief but consequential episode in Cheryl Strayed’s account of working with vulnerable teenage girls: she takes a thirteen-year-old to seek contraception, but the girl leaves without receiving it after refusing the examination required by the doctor. The episode shows both the practical limits of Strayed’s efforts to help and the difficulty of making a medical intervention accessible to someone who is deeply afraid.

The organization in Strayed’s account

Planned Parenthood is mentioned as a place where Strayed could take a girl in her youth-advocacy program for reproductive healthcare. Strayed’s broader aim was to help the girls avoid pregnancy and other harms while supporting them through conversations about sex, relationships, and their circumstances. The evidence identifies the organization through this specific visit; it does not describe its wider structure, services, or policies.

The attempted visit

Strayed persuaded the girl, who had recently turned thirteen, to go with her to Planned Parenthood for a Depo-Provera shot. A female doctor would not provide the shot without first conducting a pelvic examination. The girl refused the examination, and so did not receive the shot. Strayed and the doctor tried to reassure her, but their efforts did not change her decision.

Limits and significance

The encounter does not establish a general Planned Parenthood policy; it records what happened in this consultation. Its outcome is nevertheless clear: the intended contraceptive care was not provided because the girl could not agree to the examination required in that instance. For Strayed, the visit was one of several attempts to offer practical help to girls facing serious risks, and its failure underscores the distance between arranging access to care and making that care possible for a frightened young person.