Pregnancy options counseling

Pregnancy options counseling is a form of counseling that provides information and support regarding pregnancy. Women seeking pregnancy options counseling are typically doing so in the case of an unplanned or unintended pregnancy. Limited access to birth control and family planning resources, as well as misuse of birth control are some of the major contributing factors to unintended pregnancies around the world. In 2012, the global rate of unintended pregnancies was estimated to be 40 percent, or eighty-five million pregnancies.[1]

Pregnancy options counselors educate women about the different options that are available and help guide them to a decision on how to proceed with their pregnancy. The options include abortion, adoption, or parenting. The job of a pregnancy options counselor is to neither encourage nor discourage a woman's particular decision, nor do they profit from the woman's choice.[2] Rather, they present unbiased information about each of the options non-judgmentally, then help the woman explore her feelings and come to a decision that fits her best based on her values, culture, future plans, etc.[3] Pregnancy options counseling centers differ from crisis pregnancy centers.[4]

  1. ^ Sedgh, Gilda; Singh, Susheela; Hussain, Rubina (2017-03-27). "Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends". Studies in Family Planning. 45 (3): 301–314. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.2014.00393.x. ISSN 0039-3665. PMC 4727534. PMID 25207494.
  2. ^ "Options Counseling for Pregnancy". www.contracept.org. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  3. ^ "Prepregnancy Counseling". www.acog.org. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).