crisis pregnancy
The Benefits of Counseling for a Pregnant Teen
It helps to have an objective person guide you through your decision-making process. Sometimes, when we have difficult choices to make, we'd like to avoid the subject. Many times it takes another person to force us to look at the important issues.
There are people specially trained to assist you in making arrangements for your best possible care and to help you prepare for your future. Local crisis pregnancy centers and agencies are available to help you. The services provided through these centers can be received for little or no charge.
At these centers you will find people who care about your well-being and that of your baby. They may be called counselors, advocates or social workers. Your chats with a counselor will provide a way for you to talk through solutions. Out of care and concern, she will give you the opportunity to take a look at your situation and the changes you want to make for a happier future. A counselor can also help you gauge your readiness for parenting. She can give you insight, provide a list of helpful resources and lend you moral support. Just as important, she can serve as a mediator between you and your parents, or between you and your baby's father.
Depending on your needs, assistance can be provided for obtaining financial aid, medical care, prenatal and childbirth education and — if necessary — housing, maternity clothes and transportation.
It is also advisable that your parents get counseling. There are many excellent reasons why they should talk with an objective professional. A trained counselor can help to resolve negative feelings like guilt, anger, denial and frustration. She can also help them to be honest with you in terms of what you can and cannot expect from them.
Most parents are too close to the problem to be objective. Counseling can provide your mother and father with the tools to "back off" and allow you to come to your own decision. A trained professional could steer them toward letting go of some of the responsibility. She could assist your parents toward being alert to your needs, yet also help establish the fact that they are not responsible for the choice you make concerning the baby.
It may be hard for your parents to cope with their daughter's growing up so quickly. If your mom has protected and sheltered you all her life, it's going to be pretty hard for her to suddenly take off on a shopping trip with you to buy maternity clothes. But counseling can help her and your father work through the upset, confused feelings they may experience.
Background Information
Behind the Scenes of a Teen Pregnancy
A look at the thoughts and feelings she — and you — are going through.
Abortion Risks
While abortion seems like a "quick fix" for a long-term problem, it is a permanent decision that carries physical, emotional and spiritual risks.
Deciding About Adoption
When considering adoption as an alterative to raising your baby, these answers may dispel adoption myths.
Questions and Answers
Why do I feel like this pregnancy has pulled me in so many different directions? I feel so overwhelmed with all the ramifications of this decision I must make. How can I sort it all out?
Answer
My pregnant daughter has her whole life still ahead of her. Would it be better for her to place her baby with a family through adoption, parent her baby or have an abortion?
Answer
Review Frequently Asked Questions
Stories
Things Seen and Unseen
A woman in a white coat walked into the room and flipped on the fluorescent lights, jarring my wife awake. The jarring was just beginning.
Left to Suffer
Abortion can leave a woman feeling more empty and alone than she ever dreamed possible.
Life is Sacred
Sometimes the choices we make bring pain. Thankfully, one woman turned to God for healing.
Taboo Grief: Men and Abortion
It's not something most men talk about, but the ones who've lost a child to abortion bear many scars.
If you've been through a experience related to this topic, we invite you to share your story with others.Share Your Story
Other Things to Consider
Faith Helps
God may be the only person who understands what you're going through.
What the Choice is All About
For a long time it baffled me. I could never understand why anyone would want to be pro-choice. But this past week I finally got it.
Related Topics
Relationships: Blended Families, Parents and Adult Children
Transitions: Preparing for Adolescence, Empty Nest
