Abortion Advice & Counselling
It's normal to have mixed feelings about being pregnant when you didn't plan to be. Or you may have clear feelings about what is right for your situation. However you are feeling it is important that it is you who decides what to do in the end, but it can really help to talk to someone else about your options.
We understand that it can be hard to talk to your partner, family or friends until you know how you feel about the pregnancy. There are agencies in Ireland that offer non-directive pregnancy counselling so you can discuss all your options with a trained counsellor who doesn't know you. Non-directive pregnancy counselling means that the counsellor will not influence you or offer any opinion about what may be best for you.
Please be aware that many organisations advertising free pregnancy testing and counselling on the internet and in phone books are strongly opposed to abortion and will not discuss all the options available to you in a balanced way. If they talk about abortion as an option for you at all, it may involve unevidenced or untrue claims, or statistics that are not reliable. They also may not provide you with any information on how to access abortion treatment.
We would recommend visiting the following agencies to discuss your unplanned pregnancy and all the options that available to you:
family planning association in Northern Ireland,
Irish family planning association and the
Well Woman Centre in Dublin
If you have your counselling with any of these organisations bpas will not charge you a consultation fee.
The website called 'Positive Options' is a crisis pregnancy service that lists the details of agencies In Ireland that will give you information on all your options - abortion, adoption and keeping the baby. Pregnancy counselling with these agencies is unbiased and free of charge.
You should be aware that CURA and Life, will not discuss abortion in a pregnancy counselling session
The Abortion Support Network (ASN) is a volunteer organisation that provides financial assistance and accommodation in volunteer homes to women travelling to England from Ireland/N Ireland to access a safe and legal abortion. Funding is available on a case by case basis depending on circumstances and availability of funding.
