Options counseling: techniques for caring for women with unintended pregnancies

An unplanned pregnancy is a crisis in a woman's life. She may request assistance from the health care provider in reviewing her options of becoming a parent, continuing the pregnancy and placing her baby for adoption, or terminating the pregnancy. To facilitate the decision-making process for women facing these choices, the clinician must first examine her own values and biases. To aid the clinician in providing nonjudgmental and nondirective counseling, this article provides factual information about abortion and adoption, values clarification exercises, and concrete approaches to help women examine their beliefs.