If you are pregnant and unsure of what to do, pregnancy counseling services seem like the best way to help you decide. However, keep in mind that some counseling services have their own agenda when it comes to helping women with unplanned pregnancies. The politics surrounding pro-life and pro-choice advocates has heated up so much that even writing about it has almost become taboo. Although those who believe in abortion rights would probably not go to great lengths to get you to have an abortion, there have been reports of deception and harassment within some counseling centers commonly labeled “anti-abortion” centers.
Pregnancy counseling offers a way for pregnant women to cope with an unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancy. These services not only provide individual, one-on-one counseling with trained personnel, it can tell you about the basics of pregnancy and parenting. Counselors are there to explain all of the options available to you in depth, from contraception to parenting alternatives. They help you work with your parents, your boyfriend or your husband in coping with the situation as well depending on your choice of action. Counseling can also show how you can continue in school or in your job while pregnant, refer you for medical care no matter what your income, and inform you on the different types of financial aid available to you. Above all, pregnancy counseling works in the strictest of confidence and honesty.
According to a Planned Parenthood survey, there have been cases of pro-life activists running "counseling centers" in all parts of the country in order to stop women from having abortions. Although there is nothing wrong with trying to convince women that abortion is not their only option, it does pose a problem when these centers go so far as to provide misinformed counseling in order to dissuade women from ending their pregnancies.
The problem with these counseling centers is that their focus has moved from providing objective counseling and services to serving their own needs and opinions. One example of this type of malpractice is a half-hour counseling session comprising of films or slide shows that include pictures of mutilated fetuses or stillborn babies and distorted testimonies of distraught women who have had abortions and the medical consequences they faced. This attempt to induce guilt is furthered when counselors ask a woman about her religious views.
Some clinics fail to provide contraceptive information altogether. For example, according to Planned Parenthood, a manual issued by the Pearson Foundation instructs counselors "never to counsel or refer for artificial contraceptives or sterilization." Instead, these counselors tell unmarried women that abstinence is the only way to avoid further unwanted pregnancies.
If you are confused on what to do with an unplanned or problematic pregnancy, you should seek guidance from a professional counselor who can offer a complete review of reproductive information and tell you about your options in full detail so that you can make the choice that’s right for you. To get this type of service, choose a clinic or pregnancy counseling center that has a favorable reputation and that are supervised by physicians, nurse practitioners, or other licensed health practitioners.
By Kelley Caner