LateTermAbortion.net, Late Term Abortion Counseling.

LATE TERM ABORTION COUNSELING

The services of LateTermAbortion.net are usually sought through referrals from a patient's physician, the internet, or from another abortion facility. The ending of the life of a pregnancy is due to multiple fetal and maternal reasons. The decision to end a pregnancy can involve one or more of financial, moral, ethical, religious, family, or maternal age reasons. Contrary to popular belief, the decision to end the life of a fetus even when severely abnormal and no chance of survival is very difficult. The pregnancy may be highly desired by the patient and the significant others in her life, but it cannot be continued because of possible fetal genetic abnormalities and or malformations. The pregnancy may have been wanted but a sudden catastrophe could have occurred such as the loss of a partner, the relationship may no longer be wanted with her partner, or sudden loss of financial stability. There may have been a birth control failure, rape, or incest that occurred and the mother did not realize that she was pregnant. Or it may be that the mother desired no more children, yet her partner did not use birth control nor allow her to use birth control and she finds herself pregnant with an unwanted child. Everything may have been going well with a pregnancy and suddenly after 20 weeks, there is abnormal growth, hydrocephaly, a heart abnormality or other problems seen on sonogram that were not visible before which leads to the decision to terminate the pregnancy. There are numerous other situations that occur on a daily basis that may cause a woman to want to terminate their pregnancy.

What LateTermAbortion.net considers "counseling" a generic term. It begins with the first e-mail contact and phone discussion and continues before, during and after the procedure process is complete. In essence, we are here to support the patient and family throughout the entire process if necessary. This is the most important thing that we do at LateTermAbortion.net because we want all of our patients to understand what is required of them before they come to our facility, during their stay, and the exact steps that will occur after leaving our office. This is a time where patient's may only hear 10% of what is stated the first time things are discussed regarding the fate of their pregnancy which may involve a lot of sadness, guilt, anxiety, grief, or anger. They are now confronted with having to make the most difficult decision in their life. It is within our years of experience that we first decide via discussions through e-mail, on the phone, and once meeting with the patient in person whether she truly wants to take the first step in ending the life of her pregnancy and if it is the best thing for her after weighing all of the information regarding her medical health (physical and mental) and if present, the fetal genetic or physical abnormalities that are incompatible with life. Despite these problems, it may be concluded after meeting with the patient, that the problems with the pregnancy notwithstanding, she does not want to end the pregnancy at this particular point in time due to numerous reasons. Whatever the reasons they must be respected. We want to determine first and foremost, that this is really her decision and that she is not being pressured in any way to end the pregnancy. If we find that she is being coerced, we will kindly ask that she go home and continue to think about her decision.

The patient must be completely informed of the procedure she is having performed along with the complications and the risks. There will also be discussion of proper follow-up with her physician or the other necessary arrangements for proper removal of the fetus, particularly since we do not perform the actual removal of the pregnancy from within the intrauterine cavity. We can make the appropriate referral, but all of this must be prearranged prior to carrying out the fetal intra-cardiac injection. Without these arrangements being made ahead of time, the intra-cardiac injection will not be performed. It is important that patients know and understand what is going to occur every step of the way in order to be able to give proper informed consent.

There are many patient's Physicians who do not have the experience to perform intra-cardiac injections, who are still willing to take care of a delivery when the fetus has succumbed (not alive) in the mother's uterus. We encourage each patient to follow up with their private physician, but there are some patients who live in very small communities, or do not want their personal physician to know they had a termination performed, or the physician or hospital has a moral, ethical, social, or religious dilemma about removing a pregnancy under these circumstances. We can refer these patients to a facility that is able to provide this specialized care.

Dr. Pendergraft and his experienced staff of professionals at LateTermAbortion.net will be giving each patient through information regarding the procedure and answer all questions related to the termination process. After the patient reviews informational material and meets with the counselors and physicians, she signs the consent form indicating that she understands and requests the procedure to be performed to stop the fetal heartbeat.

During the procedure itself, the patient's family members, friends, nor partners may be present. They are welcome to be in the recovery area after the procedure is performed. Due to security and safety issues, only one person can accompany patient to our facility.