Abortion counseling

Pregnancy options counseling is a form of counseling that provides information and support regarding a women's pregnancy. Woman seeking pregnancy options counseling are typically doing so in the case of an 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.

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. 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. Pregnancy options counseling centers are not the same thing as crisis pregnancy centers, which may not provide unbiased information.

One option that a woman with an unplanned pregnancy may consider is abortion, the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 40–50 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. About 20 million of these abortions are considered unsafe and result in around 67,000 deaths each year. Abortion rates are similar across countries despite its being legal in some and illegal in others. In other words, just as many women get abortions in countries where it is illegal as in countries where it is legal. The only difference is that they proceed with illegal abortions, which are more likely to be provided under unsafe conditions by poorly trained providers. A woman’s pregnancy options in regards to abortion would be presented differently by her counselor, depending on the country they are in. The Mexico City Policy is an example of governments restricting this aspect of pregnancy options counseling.

Different countries have different abortion policies, which are based on the extent to which the unplanned pregnancy is affecting mother and fetus. 96 percent of countries allow abortions to save a woman whose life is at risk. Six countries in the world do not permit the termination of a pregnancy under any circumstance; that is 3% of the worlds countries that don't allow abortion at all. There are 50 countries (26%) that allow an abortion only if it is to save the mother’s life, 82 countries (42%) that allow abortion to save the mother’s life or for at least one of the following reasons: to preserve the woman’s physical health, to preserve the woman’s mental health, in the case of rape or incest, to avoid fetal impairment, or for economic or social reasons. Lastly, 58 countries (30%) allow abortions on request for any reason, though these countries usually do not allow the pregnancy to be terminated beyond a certain stage.

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Wikipedia