Options for Dealing with an Unplanned Pregnancy (other than keeping the baby [single] or keeping the baby [married/together])

Choosing Adoption Reasons for Choosing to Adopt: –Infertility Problems –Health Problems –Those w/ Heredity Disorders –To Give Loving Home to Child Who Needs It

Reasons to Put a Baby Up for Adoption Emotionally Unprepared to Have a Child Unable to Provide for a Child Birth Parents may be Abusive/Neglectful Have No Support System to Help Child Raising

Types of Adoption Public Adoption Agency: –Investigate & Counsel Parents –Slower / More Bureaucracy –Help a lot of People at the same time

Types of Adoption Private Adoption: –Done with own personal attorney –Faster than Public –Have individual case-worker –More expensive

Types of Adoption Open Adoption: –Similar to Private –But, birth and adoptive parents meet & share informationbirth parents get input into who gets to adopt child

Abortion as Birth Control Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-four percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.

Abortion as Birth Control The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women).

Abortion as Birth Control Forty-six percent of women having abortions did not use a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Of these women, 33% perceived themselves to be at low risk, 32% had concerns about contraceptive methods, 26% had unexpected sex and 1% were forced to have sex.

Abortion as Birth Control Thirty-seven percent of providers offer abortion at four weeks gestation, and 97% offer abortion at eight weeks. Thirty-three percent offer abortion at 20 weeks, after which the number of providers offering abortion services drops off sharply. Only 2% of all abortion providers provide abortions at 26 weeks gestation.

Abortion as Birth Control Abortions performed in the first trimester pose virtually no long-term risk of such problems as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or congenital malformation (birth defect), and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries.

Abortion as Birth Control Teens are more likely than older women to delay having an abortion until after 15 weeks of pregnancy, when the medical risks associated with abortion are significantly higher.

Abortion Methods Vacuum Aspiration (6-9/12 weeks): –This is the most common method of abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. General or local anesthesia is given to the mother and her cervix is quickly dilated. A suction curette (hollow tube with a knife-edged tip) is inserted into the womb. This instrument is then connected to a vacuum machine by a transparent tube. The vacuum suction, 29 times more powerful than a household vacuum cleaner, tears the fetus and placenta into small pieces which are sucked through the tube into a bottle and discarded.

Abortion Methods Dilation & Curettage (8-16 weeks): –This method is similar to the suction method with the added insertion of a hook shaped knife (curette) which cuts the baby into pieces. The pieces are scraped out through the cervix and discarded [Note: This abortion method should not be confused with a therapeutic D&C done for reasons other than pregnancy.]

Abortion Methods Mifepristone or RU-486 (5-7 weeks): Mifepristone is a synthetic steroid compound used as a pharmaceutical. It is used as an abortifacient in the first two months of pregnancy, and in smaller doses as an emergency contraceptive.

Abortion Methods Herbal Abortifacients: Though touted as natural ways to do-it- yourself, such herbs are powerful drugs with potentially fatal consequences. Unregulated by the FDA, herbal abortifacients can vary in potency and effect.

Abortion Methods D & E (13 to 20+ weeks): In this late term abortion the cervix is dilated, either mechanically or with laminaria. The physician uses forceps to dismember the fetus, which must then be reassembled to confirm that no parts have been left inside. Possible complications include infection, cervical laceration and uterine perforation.

Fewer than 10% of abortions in the United States happen during this time. After 24 weeks of pregnancy, abortions are performed only for serious health reasons.

Abortion Methods D & X (20 to 32+ weeks): This late in the pregnancy it is very difficult to dismember the fetus in the womb. Therefore the physician begins, but does not complete, a breech (feet first) delivery, taking care to leave the head inside the uterus. The physician then punctures the base of the skull and suctions out the brains. The child dies, the head collapses, and the delivery is completed. This unsafe procedure has been denounced by the American Medical Association as "bad medicine".