Author: Amanda Franks

While our team of nurses discuss the medical implications and physical risks of abortion, our team of advocates – through this options counseling session – discuss the emotional, relational, and spiritual implications of abortion.

But why discuss abortion at all, you may be wondering. If Alcove Health Women’s Clinic does not perform or refer for abortions (which we don’t), why have any discussion about abortion? Why not head straight to life-affirming options – like parenting and adoption?

Well, the reason is simple. Because if we don’t talk about it, then the only voice she hears in her head is the pro-abortion voice. “Abortion will empower you to live out your dreams,” she’s heard. “Your life is over if you have this baby,” she’s been told.

And these lies are so powerful when the truth is silent.

There may even be the possibility of real personal loss hanging on her pregnancy decision. Maybe it’s her husband or boyfriend’s voice replaying in her mind: “This baby will ruin our lives and I’m leaving if you don’t get an abortion.”

These voices are loud. Yet, she has enough concern – enough wisdom – to say, “Wait, I’d like to talk this through, first.”

And that’s where the options counseling session comes in.

You see for planned pregnancies, there is usually great excitement to tell others the good news of the pregnancy. But for unplanned pregnancies, there’s usually privacy and silence.

For who wants to tell family and friends about a baby who may not be alive in a few days? That weight is grueling and often leaves her in a corner by herself.

In a state where abortion pills can – within days – arrive in her mailbox, shoved among bills and junk mail, aren’t you glad that Care Net Peninsula says that she and her baby are worth a real live face-to-face conversation? That’s the heart of the options counseling session.

For it is within these conversations that she begins to articulate how she feels about her pregnancy, and how she feels about ending her pregnancy. It is not rare that this consult is the first (and maybe only) place she will talk about how she feels about abortion – and how she feels about the baby inside her.

It’s an amazing thing when you think about it. Two strangers (staff and client), sitting together, talking through one of the biggest decisions of her life.

And often, in those conversations, she is empowered because she has heard her own questions. She has listened to her own reservations and clarified her own thoughts. Speaking is powerful; so is being heard. Both happen during these consultations.

And distinctly a part of the ministry of Care Net Peninsula, this session offers her a spiritual conversation, too. For many women, they know God as creator and just need to hear themselves say, “I know God creates life.” That’s a powerful admission to reconcile when you’re considering an abortion. For some, this instance – this unplanned, unwanted pregnancy – leads them to say yes when, during this session, we ask, “Can I tell you the Gospel?” Isn’t it extraordinary that God will use an unexpected pregnancy to draw women to repent and believe?

There’s more to the options counseling session, of course, because we discuss all her options. She has real choices that protect both her and her baby – like parenting and adoption. We discuss these, too.

Ultimately, she will make a pregnancy decision. Our hope is that, in part because of this consultation, she found the help and hope she needs to choose life – not begrudgingly but empowered by a choice thoughtfully made in a space created just for her.

And that is the value and power of an options counseling session.