Abstract

PIP: The abortion counselor has 4 functions: 1) to provide accurate and well-documented information; 2) to provide support for a vulnerable patient; 3) to assess and draw out the women's feelings and facilitate her understanding and processing of the abortion experience; and 4) to recognize her own limitations and refer patients with peripheral problems to an appropriate agency. There has been some discussion of the relative merits of group and/or individual counseling. Most agree that certain patients need individual counseling -- those who are very young, those with a history of psychiatric illness, those exhibiting extreme ambivalence, and those with language or communication problems. At the Meadowbrook Women's Clinic in St. Louis Park, Minnesota there are discussion areas which are usually explored in any counseling session. The counselor begins with an exploration of the feelings experienced by the patient when she 1st discovered she was pregnant, and her attitude toward pregnancy in general. The next step is consideration of the patient's attitude towards abortion, her account of the decision-making process, and her feelings about pregnancy continuation. The most difficult patient to reach in the area of contraception is the adolescent. Unwanted pregnancy usually is the result of birth control error or failure and lack of use of contraception. The counselor in the abortion clinic needs to be supportive, nonjudgmental, to help a woman make her own decision, to reinforce that decision, and to help her carry out the decision.