From Rachel on Friends and Miranda on Sex and the City to Katherine Heigl recently getting Knocked Up, unplanned pregnancy keeps getting sexier, funnier and more romantic.

But real life is no romantic comedy, and finding yourself unexpectedly pregnant can be frightening. Fortunately, Bloomington offers many options for women with all beliefs.

“This is probably one of the most difficult, momentous decisions a woman has to make in her life if she finds herself in that situation,” said Kathryn Brown, health and sexuality educator at the Indiana University Health Center.

But there are many places available to help you walk through the options and the steps available when you learn you are pregnant. The IU Health Center provides pregnancy testing, counseling through CAPS, and can refer you to other local services. Planned Parenthood provides pregnancy testing, counseling, abortion, obstetrical treatment, and adoption services. The Crisis Pregnancy Center offers free pregnancy testing, informal counseling and emotional support, medical referrals, material support, and even a maternity home with space available for anyone. Your spiritual center or faith path also can offer you emotional and spiritual guidance and support.

Deciding What to Do

Even if you are completely undecided, the first thing you should do is take care of yourself.

When a girl goes to Planned Parenthood in Bloomington, “We always encourage that until they have made a firm decision about what they want to do, they start decreasing their alcohol intake, decreasing smoking if they smoke, trying to make sure that they get enough rest, and taking prenatal vitamins,” said Larisa Niles-Carnes, local peer education coordinator and center assistant.

The decision about which path to take with your pregnancy should center on your life and values: do you want to continue the pregnancy, should you give the baby up for adoption, or should you have an abortion? All three of these options exist in Bloomington.

“The first thing I would do is ask a lot of questions. What do you want to do? Have you thought about what kind of decision you want to make?” said Kathryn Brown, health educator at the IU Health Center. “It’s got to be the woman’s decision. No one else can make that decision for her.”

Brown suggests that women project themselves into their future and try to imagine what their life will be after they have the baby or an abortion. She says that they should consider issues like financial support, housing, school, and what they would like to do with their future.

“One of the things that I really focus on with the girls in counseling is to make sure that they get to a point where they make a decision that’s not based on fear or pressure,” said Angie Harris, client services director at the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Although all centers recommend that women talk with their partners, family members, trusted friends, spiritual leaders, or professional counselors, they also emphasize that women must make the choice for themselves.

Abortion

If you can’t see pregnancy or parenthood in your near future, Planned Parenthood performs vacuum aspiration abortions from six to 12 weeks into the pregnancy for $400 and medical abortions from six to eight weeks for $500.

When you visit Planned Parenthood, an educator will walk you through all three of the options available to you, giving you the details for each, Niles-Carnes said, including the specific medical details of each type of abortion offered.

According to Indiana law (Indiana Code 16-34-2), you must sign a voluntary consent form and wait 18 hours before you can have the procedure performed. You must also have an in-person counseling session in which you will be informed of the age of and details about the fetus, your other options, the possible side effects of an abortion, and government financial support available if you choose to have the baby.

“What I know from all my research is that for most women who have abortions – and there are always exceptions to this – there’s usually an overall feeling of relief,” Brown said. “Usually the women who have regret or are depressed after having an abortion are conflicted going in or they’re getting pressure from someone else.”

All agencies stressed that you must make the choice that is best for you and your future.

Post-abortion counseling services are available on a case-by-case basis through CAPS at the IU Health Center, recommendations from Planned Parenthood, at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and – most likely – at your center of worship.

Adoption

Planned Parenthood works with the Independent Adoption Center in Indianapolis. Kathy Wilkerson, the branch director and an open adoption counselor, usually travels to Bloomington on Mondays to meet with potential birth parents considering adoption.

“You have to look at all the options, and you have to look at what your plan is for the future and how does adoption and a child fit into that,” Wilkerson said. “We focus a lot on the emotions of making an adoption plan, the permanency of the adoption plan, and the reassurance that contact will continue when the birth parents are ready for that.”

The Independent Adoption Center is a national adoption agency that arranges open adoptions, in which birth parents and adoptive parents can individually arrange the level of contact desired. “A lot of prospective birth parents don’t probably know the level of openness we allow,” said Wilkerson. “You can have the level of contact that you want with the baby after the placement.”

Birth parents are not required to hire an attorney, nor do they pay any fees to the adoption agency. Occasionally, adoptive parents will pay for pre-natal expenses and medical care. The agency provides counseling for choosing an adoptive family and an adoption plan. It also performs all the legal services except for finalization, for which the adoptive parents must hire a lawyer.

“If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to call and ask, whether it’s our agency or another agency or an attorney, because there are a lot of different things to think about,” Wilkerson said. “Just talking with someone about all those options is probably going to be one of the most helpful things that you can do.”

Becoming a Parent

While most IU students are not in as comfortable a position for raising a child as Rachel or Miranda, deciding to keep your baby does not have to be as terrifying as it may seem.

If you have support from your family and community, it becomes much easier.

“Single parenthood is difficult at any stage, but when you’re very young at it, it’s very challenging,” said Father Richard Litzau, at St. Paul Catholic Center. “But the first thing I would do is tell [a girl] not to be scared. She’s not in this alone, obviously.”

If you have one, a religious center will provide counseling and guidance in a supportive atmosphere.

“We don’t really ask any questions; it’s not really about a judgment situation,” Litzau said. “For us it really is a ministry to somebody in the parish who has a specific need, and as a group we just kind of enfold that person. We refer them to the places they need to be referred to, but if what they really need is just some emotional support and someplace to just be, we offer that.”

Litzau also said that most religious communities will react in the same way, and that even if they cannot provide financial support, they will welcome anyone in need as a family member.

If you are not so fortunate as to have a stable home, need-based options other than government agencies are still available. The Crisis Pregnancy Center will help you find doctors and get on Medicaid if you need it, and it staffs childbirth educators who will attend doctor appointments with you and coach you during labor.

The Crisis Pregnancy Center offers material support through its “baby bucks” program, in which you earn points through “doing positive things,” like attending parenting classes or family resource activities through the center. The points can then be used to buy items ranging from diapers and baby food to cribs and car seats.

The Crisis Pregnancy Center also works with the Hannah House, a maternity home with facilities to house up to eight women and their babies anytime during pregnancy and up to six months after the baby is born.

“The focus here is really on growing and developing as a parent and as a person,” Harris said. “We do life skills training, parenting classes. We also have free childbirth classes and free parenting classes. There is structure, but it’s definitely not a feel of a shelter, it’s definitely more of a home.”

The classes and services of the Crisis Pregnancy Center are available to anyone in the community, not just residents of the Hannah House.
 
No matter your choice, you can turn to any of the above agencies and centers for help or advice. Talk to your loved ones, take time to weigh your pros and cons, but in the end, be sure to make the choice that will ensure you the brightest future.
 
Links
Planned Parenthood: http://www.plannedparenthood.org
IU Health Center: http://www.indiana.edu/~health/index.shtml
Independent Adoption Center: http://www.adoptionhelp.org/
Crisis Pregnancy Center: http://www.cpcbloomington.org/