Pregnancy and Abortion Counselling is written for professionals who give information and support to women deciding whether to terminate or continue with their pregnancy. The authors provide a comprehensive review of the social, moral and legal issues surrounding contraception and abortion and offer clear guidelines for establishing good practice. Illustrated throughout with case examples the book includes detailed information on * current legislation * methods of abortion * stages of foetal development * screening for foetal abnormality * client confidentiality and consent * ethical considerations This book is relevant to many health professionals, including doctors, health visitors, midwives and nurses as well as those involved in community work and counselling.

In today's contentious political environment surrounding abortion, clinicians, counselors and social workers need a clear framework for providing skilled, compassionate decision counseling. They need help working with the hard stuff: "What do I do when my patient asks me if God will forgive her?" or "What do I say when a woman says that she feels like she's killing her baby?" These are the questions asked by clinicians and mental health professionals everywhere; these are also the questions for which this book offers answers. The fields of healthcare and counseling psychology have long-awaited a manual for conducting pregnancy decision counseling across the spectrum of patient issues, employee skill levels, and clinic resources. Using case examples, individual and group exercises, guided self-reflection, and values clarification, the reader will develop the necessary skills to provide compassionate and informed pregnancy decision counseling. This book will define the gold standard for decision assessment and counseling for all pregnancy options and will be cited as the definitive guide for learning, teaching, and providing high-quality, compassionate counseling in abortion and family planning clinics nationwide.

The Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the second edition of Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (World Health Organization [WHO] 2012). While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in both of these documents aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to safe abortion care.

There was a growing concern in the 1970s about the number of unwanted pregnancies and the problems these posed for parents, children and society. Originally published in 1977, this was the first book which, with extensive reference to research material and illustrative case studies, provided a comprehensive analysis of the social and psychological background to unwanted pregnancy and a guide to ways of helping the people concerned. It should still be useful to doctors, nurses, midwives, teachers, social workers, and other professional and lay people whose work brings them into contact with those who are unhappy about a pregnancy. Juliet Cheetham, whose previous contributions to the problem areas of social welfare are widely respected, discusses the different meanings of unwanted pregnancy, and goes on to explore its relationship to the changing position of women; to the role of the contemporary family; to the special problems experienced by natural children and their parents; to existing social and medical provisions. She examines the possibilities, risks and limitations of the various responses to unwanted pregnancy and the services available at the time, and analyses the difficulties men and women experience in using contraception. Juliet Cheetham shows how the beliefs and attitudes of lay and professional people can influence their understanding of, and response to, these highly controversial and emotional subjects. She offers suggestions about the ways in which this influence may be appropriately modified, and the book concludes with a discussion of the special opportunities and problems of counselling those faced with an unwanted pregnancy.

The main aim of this practical Handbookis to strengthen counselling and communication skills of skilled attendants (SAs) and other health providers, helping them to effectively discuss with women, families and communities the key issues surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, postnatal and post-abortion care. Counselling for Maternal and Newborn Health Careis divided into three main sections. Part 1 is an introduction which describes the aims and objectives and the general layout of the Handbook. Part 2 describes the counselling process and outlines the six key steps to effective counselling. It explores the counselling context and factors that influence this context including the socio-economic, gender, and cultural environment. A series of guiding principles is introduced and specific counselling skills are outlined. Part 3 focuses on different maternal and newborn health topics, including general care in the home during pregnancy; birth and emergency planning; danger signs in pregnancy; post-abortion care; support during labor; postnatal care of the mother and newborn; family planning counselling; breastfeeding; women with HIV/AIDS; death and bereavement; women and violence; linking with the community. Each Session contains specific aims and objectives, clearly outlining the skills that will be developed and corresponding learning outcomes. Practical activities have been designed to encourage reflection, provoke discussions, build skills and ensure the local relevance of information. There is a review at the end of each session to ensure the SAs have understood the key points before they progress to subsequent sessions.

The majority of women who have had abortions report feeling happy, satisfied, and relieved following their abortion. Some few women who have had an abortion may experience some feelings of guilt and sadness; however, this rarely lasts longer than a few days. Those very few women who present with prolonged feelings of sadness and mental health problems are women who have either had these problems prior to their abortion, had other risk factors, or were influenced by frightening demonstrations and inaccurate biased information provided prior to the abortion. Through this book the authors hope to train general therapists and counselors in pre- and post-abortion counseling techniques--to avoid women experiencing unnecessary psychological problems created by those who insist that the non-existent "post-abortion syndrome" exists. "Abortion counseling has a critical role to play in ensuring women's mental health is the priority and not the goals of a political agenda. Thus, Needle and Walker have taken on a complex, profound and essential task -- equipping therapists and abortion counselors with the knowledge and skills needed to help their clients -- and they have done it wellÖ.Readers of this book should [gain] an increased understanding of how women's diverse life circumstances affect their ability to cope with the difficult decisions and circumstances surrounding abortion. They will also be better able to build women's resilience and coping skills by having considered them both in the context of women's lives (e.g., coping resources, social support, partner violence, incidence of depression), and in the context of socio-political agendas that seek to manipulate women's mental health in order to undermine women's reproductive rights....In the final analysis, it is important to remember that abortion counseling is not about abortion - it is about women confronting the decision to bear a child - with all of the profound and life changing commitments and responsibilities that entails." -- From the Foreword by Nancy Felipe Russo, PhD, Regents Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University