unintended or unplanned pregnancies and termination / STOP

introduction

unintended pregnancies have a high psychosocial and often financial cost
most women and their partners, do not consider termination of these pregnancies without enormous psychologic stress at the time or the pregnancy, and later in life in often still raises psychologic issues.
unintended pregnancy rates in Australia are ~20 per 1000 women aged 15-44 years compared with 17 per 1000 in northern Europe ¹⁾ ²⁾
~50% of unintended pregnancies in the US are due to failure of methods which require women to make a decision to use them each day
adolescents and young adult women are at their most fertile stages of life and at a stage of life when they tend to be less reliable at taking daily contraception or using coital contraceptive methods
young women in particular, should be considered for and offered long acting contraception

confirm dating
exclude and Mx ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage if these are suspected
refer to counselling outpatient clinic
- public patients in Melbourne (but limited access): RWH
- private services (insurance not needed but out of pocket cost):
  - Marie Stopes organisation

¹⁾

Lancet 2012; 379:625-632

²⁾

Med J Aust 2005; 182:447-452