Abortion Advice, Counselling, and Support

Considering an abortion can feel emotionally overwhelming for some. For most people facing this decision, it is about trying to work out how to make the best decision for you in a difficult situation. However, you feel about the pregnancy the counselling services team is here to provide an impartial and supportive environment for you to discuss your feelings. We provide a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental space for you to talk about your feelings both before and after an abortion. If you feel it might help you to talk to us, please call 03457 30 40 30 to book an appointment. This service is free of charge to BPAS clients.

Understanding Abortion Treatments and Aftercare

Everyone will experience different feelings after an abortion and will deal with it in different ways. Many people don't feel the need to talk after their abortion, however, for some, it's useful to talk through their emotions following treatment. If you feel it might help you to talk to us, please call 03457 30 40 30 to book an appointment. This service is free of charge to BPAS clients. Our service is respected for its quality of care, delivered by highly trained staff who are sensitive and non-judgemental. Phone lines are open 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm on Saturdays and 9.30am to 2.30pm on Sundays.

Support After Miscarriage or Abortion

Each person reacts to the end of a pregnancy, whether the cause is a miscarriage or an abortion, in their own way. You may be swamped with feelings. You may feel relief. Or you may feel numb. There is no right or wrong way to react. The key thing is to take care of yourself so that you can heal. This webpage offers ways to get advice and support.

Healing Yourself

Here are some ways to work through your feelings on your own:

• Websites:
  • Exhale – ExhaleProVoice.org
  • March of Dimes – MarchofDimes.com
  • Faith Roots Reproductive Action – Faithrootsrepro.org
• Books:
  • The Burden of Choice, by Georgina Pearson
  • Forever our Angel, by Hannah Stone
  • Miscarriages Hurt Men Too, by Peter Burdon
  • Silent Grief, by Clara Hinton
  • Sopa de Lagrimas (Tear Soup, Spanish Edition), by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen
  • A Time to Decide, A Time to Heal, by Molly Minnick M.S.W, Kathleen Delp A.C.S.W, and Mary Ciotti M.D.
  • Unspeakable Losses: Understanding the Experience of Pregnancy Loss, Miscarriage, and Abortion, by Kim Kluger-Bell

Get Support From Others

Here are some ways to get free support over the phone:

• All-Options: A national talk line for women making or having made a pregnancy decision. 1(888) 493-0092
• Connect & Breathe: An after abortion non-judgmental talk line. 1 (866) 647-1764
• Exhale: A free national talk line providing emotional support, resources, and information to women who have had an abortions, as well as to their partners, friends, families, and allies. Their service is available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese. Call 1-888-493-0092 Text: 617-749-2948
• Faith Aloud: Has trained counselors that are clergy of various religious faiths: Roman Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Protestant Christian, and Buddhist. Persons of no particular religious faith are equally welcome to receive services. Call 1-888-717-5010 to be connected with our specially trained counselors, who are clergy of diverse faith backgrounds and denominations.
• First Candle: Offers support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can speak to someone in English or Spanish. It also offers a grief packet. 1(800) 221-7437

If you can’t stop crying and have trouble eating and sleeping 6 weeks after the end of your pregnancy, you may have severe depression. Get medical help right away.

Get Spiritual Support

Here are some ways to get spiritual support:

• Catholics for Choice: Is for Catholics who have had an abortion. It offers resources and support.
• Guided Meditation: Offers support for your thoughts and feelings. It respects and empowers your choices. Its goal is to promote spiritual understanding by helping you find peace with your choices and with yourself during hard times.
• Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: Is for people who are making or have made a choice about abortion. It offers spiritual resources and support. It can help you find counselors and clergy to talk to.

Important Advice on Seeking Support

Please be careful when looking for advice. Some organisations advertising free pregnancy testing and unplanned pregnancy support are strongly opposed to abortion. They often attempt to mislead the public by presenting themselves as an organisation which provides impartial information about abortion as well as other options. Some of these ‘support’ services are aimed at promoting the view of an organisation, rather than helping you within your own situation. These organisations are sometimes called Crisis Pregnancy Centres. They will not discuss all the options available to you in an unbiased way. If they talk about abortion as an option at all, it may involve negative, unpleasant, un-evidenced or untrue claims and statistics. They may not tell you how to access abortion treatment. Before you make any pregnancy counselling appointments, we recommend that you approach an organisation on the Department of Health list or your GP for advice on getting the most appropriate source of support in your area. There is a list of Registered Pregnancy Advice Bureaux on the Department of Health’s website. These have all met the Department of Health’s required standards on accurate and balanced information-giving because they refer for abortion.

Additional Services

We offer a range of other services related to reproductive health:

• Pregnancy testing
• Termination for fetal anomaly
• Miscarriage care
• Contraception, including emergency contraception and contraception after a baby
• Male Contraception and Vasectomy
• STI Testing: Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, HIV, Syphilis