Unplanned Pregnancy: Deciding What to do When it Happens

Pregnancy can be a stressful time, when every human emotion floods the hearts of both the mother and the father. This is especially true if the pregnancy is unplanned. It is suggested that in the United States alone nearly half of the pregnancies that occur are unintended.

Unplanned pregnancies can strike anyone, from the underage teenager to the married couple who just isn’t prepared for a child. The two issues that circle most commonly around unplanned pregnancies are how to prevent them, and what to do when they happen..

Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy

There are several ways of preventing an unplanned pregnancy. The first and strongest way of avoiding an unplanned pregnancy is to practice abstinence until prepared. This, however, is not always convenient, which is why a plethora of birth control products have been created. Whether the focus is on the man or the woman, there is a wide range of pregnancy prevention tools available. These range from condoms and vasectomies, to

the pill and tubal litigation surgery. Selections range from the invasive surgeries, to a pill or a envelope of latex, giving a variety of options to both men and women.

When Unplanned Pregnancies Happen

Even the best forms of birth control, with the exception of abstinence, are often only 99% effective. This means there is still a chance of becoming pregnant even when trying not to. When this happens, women are typically presented with several options: allow the give birth and raise the baby, allow the pregnancy to develop but present the baby for adoption, or terminate the pregnancy through an abortion.

While these are the three basic options, there are several different ways that each option can work, and each consideration should be weighed heavily. Not all of these decisions are black and white. If the father and mother are unmarried, who will have custody of the child? If the mother wishes to give the child up for adoption, should she retain rights to see the child later on in life?

Factors that should go into these decisions include the father’s and the mother’s moral and religious influence, financial stability, and emotional stability. At what point is an abortion no longer an option for the mother? Even though these questions still surround those basic choices, the fact of the matter is each choice has a list of choices in under it.