Young Pregnant and Not Alone
Youthline’s pregnancy centre in Ponsonby offers confidential, impartial pregnancy, post termination and miscarriage counselling to women of all ages.
“I think many young women feel unsure about accessing services like ours because there is still such a stigma attached to being young and pregnant and young women may feel ashamed, or that they have to keep their pregnancy a secret and deal with it alone,” says counsellor Juliette Baertschi.
However she says that this may mean that some young women make a decision “haphazardly” which could have repercussions, such as not caring adequately for a child or anniversary grief if the termination is not properly thought out.
Juliette says that most important thing is that counselling is impartial and does not influence a woman towards any option.
She also believes that counselling can help stop further unwanted pregnancies in young women by informing them about their choices and contraception.
“I see myself as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff but also at the top. Having counselling may prevent a woman having psychological problems later or give her the tools before she gets into a bad situation,” she says.
Youthline’s pregnancy centre offers women three hours to explore all of their options
including continuing the pregnancy, termination or adoption. Accurate information about pregnancy, fetal development and the termination process is also available.
Women can self refer and fees are based on a sliding scale, ph: 09 361 4162