Unplanned Pregnancy! What do I do now?

If you think you may be pregnant! You need to confirm it first.

You can start by taking a home pregnancy test (HPT).  HPTs are inexpensive, private, easy to use, and mostly accurate.  However, the only way to confirm a pregnancy is through a physician’s diagnosis.  You will need to schedule an appointment with your family doctor or obstetrician/gynecologist. You can also find the local maternity services of your area.

Knowing that you are pregnant, then…

When you find out or confirmed that you are pregnant, you may feel joyful and energized, or may be stunned, puzzled and may be upset. It depends on your conditions because everybody is different, and having different type of conditions at this stage. No need to worry if you are not feeling as happy as you have expected. Even if you have been trying to get pregnant, your feelings may take you by surprise.

What do I do now?

Your pregnancy will be treated confidentially, even if you are under the age of 16. Your GP or midwife will tell you about your choices for antenatal (pregnancy) care in your local area. Being pregnant may affect the treatment of any current illness or condition you may have or go on to develop. The common problems in pregnancy, includes morning sickness, headaches, bleeding, etc.

If you don’t have one or don’t feel comfortable going to your doctor, then there are centers which offer FREE pregnancy testing and are completely confidential.  Many of the centers also perform ultrasounds at no cost.  You will need to have an ultrasound to determine how far along you are in your pregnancy.

If you're pregnant and not sure you want to be, YourOptions explains the choices you have. You can also talk to a GP.

What is “the morning-after pill”?

The “morning-after pill” is marketed as a type of “emergency contraception,” used after you have had unprotected sex or contraceptive failure such as a condom breaking. It contains the hormone Levonorgestrel, a Progestin, or Ulipristal acetate, a progesterone agonist-antagonist.

Because “the morning-after pill” does not necessarily prevent fertilization but may prevent the new life from settling or implanting into the womb and continuing to grow there, many consider it an early abortion drug. It must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex and should not be taken if you are already pregnant as it may cause harm.

Emergency Contraception isn’t appropriate for everyone. Talk to your healthcare provider before taking contraceptives to learn more about the risk factors. You can also contact a Pregnancy Center to discuss your situation.

How does “emergency contraception” work?

Depending on where you are in your menstrual cycle, the morning-after pill can work in one of 3 ways:
1.    Prevent or delay ovulation
2.    Thicken the cervical mucus, decreasing the chance of the sperm reaching and fertilizing the egg
3.    Change the lining of the uterus, preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. (Also considered an early abortion.)

Side effects may include:
•    Nausea or vomiting
•    Dizziness
•    Fatigue
•    Headaches
•    Breast tenderness
•    Bleeding between periods or heavier menstrual bleeding
•    Lower abdominal pain or cramps
•    Diarrhea

Side effects typically last only a few days.

Using the morning-after pill may delay your period by up to one week. If your period is more than one week late, take a pregnancy test. If you have bleeding or spotting that lasts longer than a week or develop severe lower abdominal pain three to five weeks after taking the pill, contact your health care provider. These may be signs or symptoms of a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy - when the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube.

An estimated 1 to 2 out of 100 women who have unprotected sex one time and correctly use the pill will get pregnant. Emergency contraception doesn’t offer protection from sexually transmitted infections.

Is abortion a social good?

This is a sensible post I have read and want to share with all of my friends and happy bloggers. It’s a unique and one of its kinds I have read in the last few days. So go through it and have you answers, if you like to share something on this topic and post.

Where the turnaways had more significant negative outcomes was in their physical health and economic stability. Because new mothers are eligible for government programs, Foster thought that they might have better health over time. But women in the turnaway group suffered more ill effects, including higher rates of Hypertension and Chronic Pelvic Pain (though Foster cannot say whether turnaways face greater risk from pregnancy than an average woman). Even “later abortions are significantly safer than childbirth”, and “through lower complications and low incidence of chronic conditions.” (In the National Right to Life’s five-part response to preliminary findings of Foster’s study, which were presented at the American Public Health Association conference last year, the group noted that the ill effects of abortion - future miscarriage, breast cancer, infertility - may become apparent only later. Reputable research does not support such claims.)

Economically, the results are even more striking. Adjusting for any previous differences between the two groups, women denied abortion were three times as likely to end up below the federal poverty line two years later. Having a child is expensive, and many mothers have trouble holding down a job while caring for an infant. Had the turnaways not had access to public assistance for women with newborns, Foster says, they would have experienced greater hardship.

I think there’s a tremendous argument for abortion as a social good. No one wants to frame it that way because it’s so icky, and I don’t support abortion past viability, and I don’t personally believe in abortion anyway. But women who are able to plan their pregnancies have more control over their lives, their futures. That’s just the way it is. Deny them the procedure and you deny them this freedom, while at the same time imposing costs on a society that cannot afford it.
There’s a pretty self-evident economic answer here. If only, that provided easy moral answers, as well.

More Stories at: http://youroptions.com/stories/

Reference: http://lancasteronline.com/blogs/smartremarks/2013/06/20/is-abortion-a-social-good/

Post Abortion Syndrome - Effects and Symptoms

For decades, pro-abortion advocates have argued that abortion is safe, and that the procedure will cleanly deal with the problem of a crisis pregnancy. But more and more emotional symptoms are experienced by many post-abortive women-conditions which are not healed by standard methods and remain problematic until the abortion trauma is properly addressed.

The Effects of Abortion Starts before the Abortion

The ideal label of abortion advocate for decades has been “pro choice.” There is something extremely ironic about the notion of pro-choice and the personal liberty of women, and that’s the fact that 80% of women who choose abortion are in under pressure, coerced by fear under heavy social pressure from friends, family, boyfriends, and work. In other words, most women chose abortion because they feel they have no other choice.

The Emotional After Effects of an Abortion

When acting from an emotional crisis triggered by outside pressures, it’s understandable why a host of negative emotional side effects often follow an abortion procedure. They occur so commonly that some practitioners are calling it Post Abortion Syndrome, with symptoms including:

• Social and relational breakdown
• Sexual dysfunction
• Loss of self-esteem
• Nightmares
• Anxiety attacks
• Guilt and remorse
• Inability to enjoy previously enjoyable activities
• Drug abuse
• Alcohol abuse
• Depression
• Suicide

All in all, Post Abortive Women’s are 8 times more likely to visit a psychiatrist than women who deliver their babies.

If you or someone you know has experienced any of the symptoms of Post Abortion Syndrome, help is available from caring groups like YourOptions.com, who will help you address the root causes of your distress. Please don’t suffer in secret.