Sexual safety - Pregnancy Options
How does pregnancy happen?
Pregnancy happens when a sperm fertilises an egg.
What are the signs of pregnancy?
If you are pregnant you might have some of the following signs – or you may have none of them at all.
- You missed a period.
- You are tired and don’t have much energy.
- You may vomit – or feel as if you’re going to be sick.
- You may crave certain types of food or you may not want to eat food you previously liked.
- You may need to urinate more often.
- Your breasts may feel tender or look bigger than normal.
There are lots of reasons why you might be feeling this way. Your Family Planning Clinic or your doctor will be able to give you a pregnancy test which can confirm a pregnancy. Or, you can buy a pregnancy test kit from chemists and supermarkets – and take the test at home. Pregnancy tests measure the amount of a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadatrophin in a woman’s urine.
What choices do I have about an unplanned pregnancy?
Everyone who is pregnant has decisions to make. You may have many different feelings. Finding out you are pregnant can bring up many different emotions, especially if it was not planned.
Unplanned pregnancies happen to women of all ages and backgrounds for many different reasons.
If you are pregnant, there are four options for you to consider:
- Continue the pregnancy with a partner
- Continue the pregnancy on your own
- Continue the pregnancy and adopt out, foster or whangai
- Terminate the pregnancy (this is also known as abortion)
The following questions may help you work out what is the best decision at this time in your life.
Your relationships:
- Do you have support from family and/or a partner?
Your responsibilities:
- Are you ready to be a parent?
- Who can you call on to offer you support emotionally and financially?
Future plans:
- How will this decision affect your plans for study, work or travel?
- Where do you see yourself in one, two and five year’s time?
