The 2019 Year in Review - Pregnancy Counselling Australia

Volunteer counsellors at PCA continue to devote themselves to the women and men of Australia who are facing an unplanned pregnancy or are suffering following an abortion.
There are so many voices in the community that suggest abortion is the best and easiest option for an unplanned pregnancy.

It is vital our service continues to offer a safe place where women and men are encouraged to make a fully informed decision.

“Today I had the privilege of receiving a call from a young lady who was very conflicted about the way forward. She is just a few weeks pregnant with her 4th child and is scared of the future. As she told me her story of various issues in her life, she also presented a picture of a resilient woman who has faced many challenges. As we talked, she confided that she really did not want an abortion” Lois Dean

She has had one in the past and became very mentally unwell afterwards. She just wanted the best for her family. I said that it sounded as if she needed support and when I suggested that I could find that support for her, her whole mood lifted.

I was able to refer her to a great service in her area where she will not only receive support for her anxiety surrounding this pregnancy but on-going support after the baby is born. She was very grateful.” Lois Dean

ISSUES:

Unfortunately we are just not receiving enough of these calls where we know we can really help.

The chart demonstates a recent trend of decreasing number of calls from year to year.

There may be a number of contributing factors such as:

• A lot of information re unplanned pregnancy and abortion is readily available on the internet
• Abortion has been normalised in our community that it seems like the sensible option to an unplanned pregnancy.
• When a woman sees her GP to have her pregnancy confirmed, she will usually be asked, “Is this good news or bad news?” When the answer is, “Well, it is not good news”, the Dr will often give them the contacts for their nearest Abortion Clinic. No counselling, nothing.
• Government telephone lines like 1800MyOptions, Royal Women’s Hospital, Family Planning Victoria, all are readily found with a Google search, as are Marie Stopes , the main abortion provider whose webpage make it very easy to book an abortion.
• Young people prefer to text, rather than make a phone call. We may capture more abortion-minded callers if our service was linked with an online Chat option.

The chart below demonstates the reasons for the calls we receive.

• By far the largest slice of the pie are callers who are considering abortion.
• The next largest slice are those needing support with an unplanned pregnancy.
• Therefore we are reaching those we are set up to help , just not enough are calling.
• The next slice are those who have experienced an abortion and are suffering afterwards.

2020 will be a huge challenge in maintaining our service in increasingly difficult times.

Article by Lois Dean