title: Options counseling: techniques for caring for women with unintended pregnancies.
abstract: An unplanned pregnancy is a crisis in a woman's life. She may request assistance from the health care provider in reviewing her options of becoming a parent, continuing the pregnancy and placing her baby for adoption, or terminating the pregnancy. To facilitate the decision-making process for women facing these choices, the clinician must first examine her own values and biases. To aid the clinician in providing nonjudgmental and nondirective counseling, this article provides factual information about abortion and adoption, values clarification exercises, and concrete approaches to help women examine their beliefs.
authors.affiliation: Women and Infants Hospital, Midwifery Department, 101 Dudley Street, Level 0, Providence, RI 02905, USA. JSinger@wihri.org
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Singer
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008880:Midwifery; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States