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Take a Deep Breath

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 03:00 — CompassCare Abo...

Are you facing an unplanned pregnancy today?  No doubt you feel like you need to resolve this crisis quickly.  The nurses at CompassCare understand how you're feeling.  Meet Kathy.

Kathy Mauer and our other nurses are ready to talk with you.  Schedule a free appointment today.

Will There Be Guilt?

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:13 — CompassCare Abo...

Feelings of sadness, anxiety, grief, and guilt are normal emotions after an abortion.  But why do we feel this way?  Compromise asks us to give up something important to us in exchange for what we feel we can’t live without at the moment. In the face of immediate pain, we tend to set aside our convictions.

But what if that important thing is your very character?  In your decision about your pregnancy, how do you know if you’re character is at stake?  

Ask yourself, “Do I believe the thing growing inside of me is a life?  Is it a baby?”

Despite what some politically motivated scientists might say, most women facing unplanned pregnancy know deep down that there is a child growing inside them. That’s why the decision you’re facing is so hard. Acting against your character can have long-term consequences on your mental and emotional health.

A 2011 study in the British Journal of Psychiatry reports that, “Women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81% increase risk of mental health problems.”1

There are many more questions to consider.  Have you taken the time to ask the ones that pertain to who you are as a person?  Don't let the drama around you drown out your inner voice.  The right choice is the one that is true to who you are.

Unrecognizable

Mon, 01/23/2012 - 09:50 — CompassCare Abo...

The movie “Nine Months” (2001) takes a comical, but truthful look at the intense emotional roller coaster an unplanned pregnancy can take both the woman and a man on.

At one point, Sam (Hugh Grant), distressed by the fact that he might have to get rid of his car and his cat, screams at his pregnant girlfriend (Julianne Moore), “It hasn’t even been two months, and our life is unrecognizable!”  His distress, though hilarious, strikes a nerve.  He’s right.  Babies, from the moment of conception, change your life forever.

Your life may be unrecognizable, but not in a “your life is over; you'll never see the light of day” way that Sam in the movie suggests. Instead, babies - planned or unplanned - force all of us to do something that is always a challenge: live for someone other than ourselves.

Turn your fear into confidence.

What is Informed Consent?

Mon, 01/16/2012 - 09:13 — CompassCare Abo...

"Every state requires that a patient consent before undergoing medical treatment and that the consent be 'informed,'"1 yet only 35 states require that women receive counseling before an abortion is performed. This does not excuse your healthcare provider from fulfilling their responsibilities to communicate all possible short- and long-term side-effects of each treatment option. Your provider should also help you to explore which treatment options are most consistent with your values and beliefs. For example, if a woman believes that abortions ends the life of a baby, yet she is offered an abortion by her provider and accepts it, this shows that the woman is not truly free to act in accordance with her beliefs.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, "informed consent is a process through which accurate and relevant information is presented to a patient so that he or she is able to knowledgeably accept or forego medical care, based on an appreciation and understanding of the facts presented."2 If you're facing an unplanned pregnancy, your choices should be filtered through these principles.

  • Have you been provided with adequate information?
  • What do you believe about when human life begins?
  • Do you understand all your treatment options?
  • Are you able to make an uncoerced decision based on that information?

To put it another way, a truly uncoerced choice happens only when a woman feels equally empowered to pursue every option. Too often women facing unplanned pregnancy feel that abortion is their only option, and are not empowered by their provider to make any choice.

CompassCare offers free pre-abortion counseling, to help you make a truly informed decision.

Let's Cut Right to the Chase

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 16:56 — CompassCare Abo...

You already know who you are - your identity - or at least what people expect of you. You’re today’s woman. Your internal billboards are splashed with words like College Graduate, Career Woman, Independent, Confident, and Changing the World. It’s all planned out.  

But the pregnancy test you hold in your hands says that all might change. Your future, your identity, the core of who you are, is about to be altered.  You have a decision to make.  

Frankly, whatever you decide will affect your identity. You will be changed.

But there's something else you're considering, isn’t there? It is not only your identity that concerns you, it’s the baby’s. Your baby has an identity too. He or she has internal billboards that are just as strong as yours. Can you live with the knowledge that theirs will never see the light of day?

We understand your dilemma. Talk to nurses who have been there and lived to talk about.

Real Choices. Your Decision.

Be True to Yourself

Wed, 12/28/2011 - 14:36 — CompassCare Abo...

Being true to yourself means to act in accordance with who you are and what you believe.

Deep down, we know what is true for us.  As children we establish our own set of core values that make us uniquely who we are.  So why do we sometimes make choices contrary to those values?  Often we find ourselves nodding in agreement to well-meaning advice and swayed by opinions we hold in high esteem - whether we deeply agree with them or not.  It’s human to want to make everyone happy, and sometimes when the options are tough, the easiest choice is what others think is best for us.

Before you decide, ask yourself these things:

●    Is the choice I’m about to make out of character for me?
●    Does it agree with my core values?
●    Is this decision truly my own and no one else’s?

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
- Albert Einstein

Stay true to yourself.  Real choices.  Your decision.

Has the Term Embryo Been Redefined?

Mon, 12/19/2011 - 09:29 — CompassCare Abo...

It's necessary for medical definitions to evolve with ever-advancing fields of science.  But what happens when those definitions are derived from opinion or political agenda rather than scientific fact?

Top medical dictionaries are divided on the definition of the term “embryo”, about half stating that this stage of development begins at the time of conception; the other half at implantation. Mirriam-Webster, the preferred reference of the International Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine, changed its original definition of embryo.

Webster's 1913: "the first rudiments of an organism, whether animal or plant; in embryo: in an incipient or undeveloped state; in conception, but not yet executed"1

Merriam-Webster 2011: "an animal in the early stages of growth and differentiation that are characterized by cleavage, the laying down of fundamental tissues, and the formation of primitive organs and organ systems; especially: the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception"2

Redefining embryo to begin later in the maturing process, after fertilization, will allow pharmaceutical companies to sell certain types of drugs as contraception instead of drugs that actually cause abortion. It will allow for a politically and financially motivated abortion industry to profit on abortion without calling it such. It alleviates medical providers from their responsibility of informing a woman of what is truly happening in her body.

If a woman is being given a drug to end the life of an organism with separate and distinct DNA, she should be respected enough to be told.  Republican Nancy Johnson (R-CT 1983-2006) is noted as saying, "For those who do not believe that life begins upon fertilization, but believe, in fact, that that fertilized egg has to be implanted, [one would be] imposing his judgment as to when life begins on that person..."1

Has the definition changed to suit the user?

Unplanned Pregnancies Can Change the World

Wed, 12/14/2011 - 16:25 — CompassCare Abo...

Pregnant.  Young.  Alone.  Afraid.

Meet Mary.

She was from a small town… nowhere really.  The name of her hometown did not even merit a dot on the map.  Yet she found herself surprised by an unexpected pregnancy.  “How can this be?”  What would her parents think?  What would the townspeople say?  She would be an outcast.  Then there was her boyfriend.  Frankly, he may not believe her.  He may even think of leaving her.  This was not a simple decision. What about all of her hopes and dreams?

The decision Mary made not only changed her world, but continues to impact our world today.  Her decision was to be a mother.  Her son was born on Christmas Day and named Jesus, who represents hope in hopeless situations.

Maybe you recognize this famous story.  It’s not an uncommon one.  You’ve likely encountered similar stories without even realizing it:

  • Meet Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple.  Born to an unwed mother who allowed a loving couple to adopt him.
     
  • Meet Oprah Winfrey, famed speaker and CEO of self-named television network.  Daughter to a single mom who never married.
     
  • Meet Dave Thomas, founder of one of the top food chains in America.  Adopted when he was 6 weeks old.

Courageous women and unplanned pregnancies can change the world.

Real choices. Your decision.

When Does Pregnancy Begin?

Tue, 11/29/2011 - 13:30 — CompassCare Abo...

The point at which a woman is pregnant has traditionally been defined as when a separate and distinct strand of DNA has been created. This happens at fertilization, when male sperm unites with a female egg, which typically takes place in a fallopian tube. Recently some medical professionals have changed that definition. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), "the establishment of a pregnancy takes several days and is not completed until a fertilized egg is implanted in the lining of the woman's uterus."1

But does this statement truly reflect the thoughts of the greater medical community?

In a 2011 study, 1800 practicing US obstetrician-gynecologists were asked to define when they believe that pregnancy begins.  Of the 66% who answered:

  • 57% said "At conception (the union of the sperm and the egg, also known as fertilization)"
  • 28% said "When the embryo is implanted in the uterus"
  • 16% said they were "Not sure"2

It was determined that physician’s deeper beliefs about the nature of human life inform how they interpret the science of when a human life begins. Do you believe, as most physicians, that human life begins at fertilization, also known as conception?

It is important to seek out an unbiased source to walk with you through your unplanned pregnancy.  Contact us for a free consultation.

Why Women Choose

Wed, 11/23/2011 - 12:12 — CompassCare Abo...

Women choose abortion for many reasons.  It can be a result of pressure from a boyfriend or a family member, fear of raising a child alone and at a young age, or just the fear of being pregnant.  The reasons are complex, and the stories span the emotional spectrum, from relief to heart-rending grief. Read some stories of women who chose abortion:*

“I have experienced several pregnancies and terminated all of them. The first time I found out I was in college and only 20 years old. I was freaked out, scared, felt lonely and depressed.”

“It would have been easier if my boyfriend said we'd raise it together and we could get married. I consider myself something of a feminist so I shock myself that I even thought I needed to get married to have a child, but I did… The best part was that I realized that this person was not someone I wanted to be with in a relationship, the worst part is the pain that you feel after.”

“The pregnancy termination has affected me because I keep thinking on the baby. If the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. How old would he or she would be now.”

“I strongly considered having the baby, but I didn’t think that I would be able to give it the kind of life that it would have deserved. I didn’t have that great of a job, I didn’t have a permanent home, and the father would have been hardly in the picture… I was very early along and I felt that it was the best decision for everyone involved.”

“Best part was I realized I needed to slow down take a step back and be much more responsible in life. Worst part was how horrible, scared, and selfish I felt. Has affected my life by making me slow down and realize I can’t be so careless or irresponsible.”

“I don't think there was anything good about my experience.  Other than the termination was painless and quick.  The worst part was feeling/thinking ‘what if this is my one chance to have a baby?’”

But there are other stories of young women who chose to keep their babies despite the challenges.  Some did consider abortion, especially when there was little support from family members and boyfriends, or the baby was likely to have birth defects.  Read some of their stories:

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a25342775/why_did_you_keep_your_baby

Real Choices. Your Decision.