21 Pregnancy Options
Pregnancy Options
Case
Christine McHale is a 24 year old female. It’s been 8 months since you last saw her in the office and she comes in today because her period is 5 days late. The nurse has done a urine pregnancy test which is positive, but she hasn’t given Christine the results. Christine has come to the office with her boyfriend, Marc, and they are waiting in the exam room together.
Questions to Consider
- How do you give the news of the positive pregnancy test?
- What are Christine’s options for this pregnancy?
- Is emergency contraception an option?
- What are the key facts women need to know when deciding about adoption, medical or surgical abortion?
- What are the reasons a woman may choose a medical versus surgical abortion or vice versa?
- What counseling techniques can you use to help her through the process of making a decision?
- If a provider is ethically opposed to abortion what are his/her obligations when caring for a patient who presents for options counseling or abortion care?
- What question(s) would you find hardest to answer or what clinical scenario(s) do you fear most when it comes to options counseling or abortion care? Write them down on your index card.
Learning Objectives
Learners will be able to give the news of a positive pregnancy test and counsel a patient with an unintended pregnancy about the basics of her pregnancy options (parenting, abortion and adoption) in a nonjudgmental, non-directional, and patient-centered manner.
Learners will be able to provide evidence-based answers to patients’ frequently asked questions about emergency contraception and early abortion options.
Required Readings:
Reading: Fact Sheet on Induced Abortion in the United States
Reading: Emergency Contraception and Medication Abortion: What’s the Difference?
Reading: Comparison of Early Abortion Options – A Resource for Patients
Reading: BMJ Clinical Review: Abortion
For more information see these additional resources:
Pregnancy Options Info: A Workbook of Options including Abortion, Adoption, and Birth
Fact sheet for families from the Department of Health and Human Services: “Are you pregnant and thinking about adoption?”
Reproductive Health Access Project. Resources to help primary care physicians provide contraception and abortion care.
ACOG Committee Opinion: The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine
ANSIRH Early Abortion Training Workbook