If you are thinking you are pregnant, the first step must be to take a pregnancy test.  If your free pregnancy test at First Choice is positive, your next step is to confirm your pregnancy medically via ultrasound, also provided free at First Choice.  If you have just found out for sure that you are pregnant, and this isn't part of your plans right now, you may be feeling alone and scared.  You may be having a hard time admitting that you really are pregnant.  Eventually you will need to decide what to do.  

At this time, despite the stress, you need to think through all your alternatives.  This is one of the biggest decisions you may make in your life.  Before you choose, carefully weigh your options based on information rather than just emotion.  Use your head, use your heart, and use your soul.  A First Choice counselor is waiting to help you think through all your thoughts and fears.

For your information, listed below are some facts regarding an abortion procedure and the risks involved.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact First Choice at 1-888-3-CHOOSE.

What is Abortion?

Abortion refers to the artificial (meaning not natural as in miscarriage) ending of a pregnancy, for whatever reason. Most people call the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy a miscarriage rather than an abortion. When abortions were legalized in the United States in January 1973, even doctors began using the term abortion for the pregnancy that a woman terminated and the term miscarriage for a pregnancy that a woman lost spontaneously.

Abortions may be performed either surgically or medically.

Surgical Abortion - implies the use of surgical instruments to remove the fetus from the uterus or the placing of instillations in the uterus to stop the fetus from developing.

Medical Abortion - implies the administration of drugs to the pregnant woman to stop the fetus from developing and expel it from the uterus.

The method of abortion is determined by how far along a woman is in her pregnancy. Because it can be difficult to know exactly what day a woman conceived, medical professionals will usually refer to pregnancy in terms of the time since the last menstrual period (LMP).

Before an abortion procedure can take place, gestational age must be determined. First Choice can provide an ultrasound to determine gestational age free of charge. Call 1-888-3-CHOOSE for an appointment.  

You have a right to know all of your options and other information that might affect your decision, but if you don't ask for this information you may forfeit that right.  Here are some important issues you will want to discuss before you sign a medical consent form.

1. Will it hurt?
2. What options and supportive services are available to me if I choose not to abort?
3. What is the fetus like right now?  What can it do?  What can it feel?
4. How much bleeding will I have?
5. If I bleed too much, who should I call or where should I go?
6. Will you treat me for complications?
7. If I need to be hospitalized, at which hospital do you have privileges?
8. What are the chances that I will experience any of the following problems?

If you decide to have an abortion, you will want to have a permanent record of what the care provider told you. Take this check list home with you and keep it in a safe place. Some of the effects associated with abortion may not show up for several years. If anything does happen to you during or after the abortion you will have evidence of what you were told.