Other Options When Facing an Unplanned Pregnancy
You are not alone
DISCLAIMER:
The information on this website is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek emergency care if you experience any of the following:
- Heavy bleeding — soaking two or more pads an hour for two hours.
- Severe abdominal or back pain.
- Fever lasting more than 24 hours.
- Foul-smelling vaginal discharge.1
There Is No Easy Option
Physical & Emotional Side Effects
Sometimes, abortion seems like an easy option. An at-home abortion may seem to be “just like getting your period.” Or, “just like a miscarriage.” But, any abortion procedure carries with it physical and emotional side effects.
Review the Facts
Before you make a decision, you need to carefully review all of the facts. If you have any questions, make sure you get answers. Review this website carefully and jot down any questions you have. Then, contact Option Line. They can answer all of your questions and give you a referral for a local organization that can help you.
Contact Option Line
If you have been through an abortion in your past and are dealing with physical or emotional side effects, you are not alone. Contact Option Line and ask them to put you in touch with a local pregnancy medical center. They will answer any questions you have and make sure you get the help you need.
No matter what your circumstances, you have options if you find yourself unexpectedly pregnant. Almost half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, so you are in good company if your pregnancy took you by surprise!2 Before you make any decisions, take a deep breath and remember that many women have been in your shoes and successfully navigated their way to a choice that worked for them.
Parenting
Almost half of women who unexpectedly find themselves pregnant choose to raise their children themselves.3 It is possible to experience an unforeseen pregnancy and still attend school and college, get and keep a job, and maintain friendships and a full life. Challenges will certainly come, but whether a woman chooses to marry the child’s father or not, outside help is available to make the situation easier.
Organizations such as churches and pregnancy help organizations (both secular and religious) are available to help women who choose to parent their babies. As of 2017, there were 2,752 pregnancy help centers across the country!4 Be aware clinics who offer abortion profit if you decide to abort, so you may find the best encouragement for continuing your pregnancy by seeking a true pregnancy medical center.5 If you need information or directions to a center near you, you can contact us or go to optionline.org. We are here to help.
Adoption
If you decide to place your child for adoption with a loving family, know that you as a birth mother can decide what kind of adoption would be best for you and your baby. Every year, roughly 14,000 women in the United States make the decision to make an adoption plan for their child, and each woman is given the opportunity to choose how involved she wants to be with both the adoption process and the child to whom she has given birth.6
Some birth mothers choose an open adoption, in which they are able to communicate with their babies and the adoptive families.7 There are many kinds of open adoptions available, from those with just minimal contact to those in which the birth mother plays a major role in the life of the child she has placed. So you can choose not only whether to have a closed or open adoption, but also what level of openness you feel is best. To learn more about available options, please feel free to contact us, nightlight.org, or lifetimeadoption.com.
1 mayoclinic.org
2 webmd.com
3 americanprogress.org
4 pregnancyhelpnews.com
5 nytimes.com
6 americanprogress.org
7 childwelfare.gov
Contact Us Any Time For Confidential Help
Please note that it may take us up to 48 hours to respond. If you need immediate assistance call Option Line at 1-800-712-4357 or text HELPLINE to 313131.
Have you already taken the abortion pill? Click here for help.
If you are in an unsafe or dangerous situation or if you are being threatened, please call 911 or go to an emergency medical facility.
This website has been created in partnership with
Sarah M. Bowen.
This website has no affiliation to any of the organizations represented by the links contained herein unless otherwise noted and disclosed.
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