Why Pregnancy Counseling Is Helpful For Teen Pregnancies

While pregnancy can be a wonderful, joy-filled experience for many women, for others it is a time of sadness, confusion, and desperation. As a mother of a teenage child, hearing the news that your daughter is pregnant can create major confusion and problems in a family, but there are ways to work this out. The best thing to do is to take your daughter to a healthcare clinic for pregnancy counseling.

What Is Pregnancy Counseling?

Pregnancy counseling is a special type of service designed to help women who are pregnant, and it can be used for many different reasons, including for:

  • Young girls who find out they are pregnant and are unsure what they should do
  • Women who are struggling with emotional problems from the pregnancy
  • Women who have given birth, but that are struggling with postpartum depression
  • Women who want to get pregnant, but cannot because of infertility issues

The goal of pregnancy counseling is similar to any other type of counseling service–it is designed to help a woman sort out her feelings. Pregnancy counseling also helps women make the right decisions based on her and her child's needs and come up with future plans.

How Does This Help?

There are approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies each year in the U.S. and these pregnancies often leave teens in bad situations. According to statistics, many of these girls will:

  • Not graduate from high school or college
  • Have to raise the children alone because the biological fathers leave
  • Have a second child within 24 months

Pregnancy counseling helps these girls make the right decisions about their pregnancies, which may mean keeping the child, aborting it, or giving it up for adoption. Each of these choices has consequences, and choosing any of these options can be difficult.

Although a counselor will help you and your daughter decide which option is right, the help does not stop there. If your daughter decides to keep the baby, pregnancy counseling will also help her with other issues, including:

  • How she will raise and support the child
  • Options for finishing high school and going to college
  • Where they will live
  • If she will pursue support from the father of the child

If your daughter has the right mindset and has help, she may be able to keep the child and raise it, but this may require work from you too. You may need to let them live with you, and you may need to help with babysitting and childcare.

Are There Other Types Of Help?

Another benefit of seeking help from a pregnancy counseling center is that the center will be able to help your daughter locate organizations that can help her. Making the decision to keep a child is a big decision, but it does not mean that your daughter will have to do it alone. There are so many great organizations that she could take part in to help her with this huge task, and a pregnancy counseling center will help her find the right ones for her. This can include:

  • Birthing classes – Your daughter might be able to attend birthing classes for free, and these classes are very important for any woman who is expecting.
  • Mentoring programs – Some organizations (such as churches) offer mentoring programs for young girls. With this, your daughter would have a mentor who will love and encourage her, and who may help her with tasks she needs to accomplish.
  • Material support – There are also organizations that may give your daughter free food, baby supplies, clothing, and other types of important things she and the baby will need.

Deciding to keep the baby is a very responsible decision your daughter might make. This decision will force her to grow up faster, but she can make it through this with the right help.

If you would like to learn more about this, contact a healthcare clinic that offers pregnancy counseling services for teens.


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