Unexpected pregnancy can be a difficult situation for anyone to deal with, especially for students. Last year, third-year College student Caitlin Mahoney found herself facing the difficult decisions associated with an unplanned pregnancy and ultimately decided to undergo an abortion.
Student Health and early counseling
According to Christine Peterson, Student Health director of gynecology, a number of students visit Student Health each year thinking they might be pregnant.
"In the early 1980s, there were over 200 unplanned pregnancies in U.Va. students -- graduates and undergraduates -- and about 95 percent ended in abortion," Peterson said. "In the last four to five years there have been about 10 students a year that have come in with unplanned pregnancies and ... about 75 percent have chosen to terminate the pregnancies."
Peterson attributes the decrease in this number of unplanned pregnancies to increased use of birth control and other forms of contraception available through doctors, Student Health and organizations such as Planned Parenthood.
Peterson said students with concerns regarding pregnancy often turn to Student Health, which offers a variety of resources.
"Student Health is a safe and confidential place to come no matter what you want to do for an unplanned pregnancy or it is a place to go when you're planning a pregnancy," she said, noting that Student Health offers University students "non-directive all-option counseling" to help them to figure out how best to deal with the situation.
Peterson noted students often only need to speak with a representative of the gynecological clinic to determine the best course of action, though students who need additional guidance are fully assisted.
"Sometimes they need to talk to someone one or two more times, and sometimes students want and need additional counseling," Peterson said. "That may be with a mental health professional [or] it may be a clergy person, and we will help them get any additional counseling that they need or want."
Peterson explained that during counseling sessions, students are presented with a number of options.
"We give them information about all the facilities in the area and the services they might need," she said. "If they choose to continue the pregnancy we have a referral list of ... physicians and midwives."
In addition to providing for obstetric needs, students can receive information about abortion and adoption from Student Health, Peterson said.
"The student always contacts the care provider herself," Peterson said. "We don't do that for her, because we don't want to push her in [any way]."
Some students opt to rely on other resources as well, visiting organizations such as the Pregnancy Centers of Central Virginia, which promotes a pro-life view, or Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights. According to PCCV Executive Director Ron Schneider, a "fair number of University students through the years" have come to PCCV.
We "provide hope for women and men in these families that are going through the troubles of unintentional pregnancy ... empowering individuals through physical, emotional and spiritual support," Schneider said.
A student's perspective
When Mahoney found herself pregnant last year she was faced with making a decision about how to deal with the situation.
Mahoney had been in a monogamous relationship for two months and had been on birth control when she found out she was pregnant, she explained.
"I missed my period which was not normal ... two to three weeks after, my breasts ached and then began to hurt all of the time," Mahoney said. "I took a pregnancy test and it was positive ... I thought, 'What should I do?'"
Mahoney said she began to experience additional symptoms of pregnancy.
"I threw up all day ... I was very bloated," she said. "Reading was almost impossible and I'm a history major; I couldn't walk and getting to class was a journey -- I missed a lot of classes."
Mahoney went to Student Health for an appointment to confirm her pregnancy and consider her options, she said.
"They were very understanding," Mahoney said. "They gave me all of my choices -- parenting, adoption and abortion."
Mahoney said parenting was out of the question for her for a number of reasons.
"There was hardly any way I could be a parent or my boyfriend [could] -- I was 20 years old," she said. "Neither of us was ready to have children, we had been together for so little time."
Mental health was also a consideration for Mahoney, as she is bipolar.
"I'm stable by myself, but I didn't think I could be stable enough to parent another person," she said.
Mahoney said she also felt adoption would not be a good decision for her.
"Adoption would be so much harder for me ... after giving my body to someone else," she said, adding that her mental health also made her wary of adoption.
"I'm bipolar, I have family members who are, which leads me to think that there's a genetic component," she said. "I'd always wonder if my child could get care -- what if whoever raises them doesn't [make sure the child receives proper care and treatment]?"
Mahoney said she chose to have an abortion at a clinic that she does not want to identify, so as to protect the institution from potential "harassment."
Knowing the facts
Peterson said there are two clinics in the area, including Planned Parenthood, and a private facility at the University Hospital that perform abortions.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures Web site, Virginia law requires those seeking an abortion to undergo counseling specifically related to medical assistance and abortion alternatives. The law also mandates a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed.
There are two different types of abortion, surgical and medical, explained Shannon Heintz, community health educator for Planned Parenthood in Raleigh.
"A medical abortion is known as an abortion pill, which is [generally made up of] methotrexate and misoprostol," Heintz said, noting this form of abortion must be completed before a woman has been pregnant for eight weeks.
According to the WebMD Web site, the two most common types of surgical abortion for the first trimester are manual/machine vacuum aspiration abortions or dilation and curettage abortions.
The MVA uses suction to remove the contents of the uterus, according to the Web site, while the D&C uses instruments designed to scrape out the contents of the uterus.
Mahoney said she had a surgical abortion.
"I went to talk and to have a consultation and a medical exam," she said. "They didn't push abortion -- they gave me resources for adoption, for pregnancy; they also explained how pregnancy happens in detail and asked why I wanted an abortion."
Soon thereafter, Mahoney received a date for her procedure as well as a call from the clinic detailing her legal rights.
"You get a consultation a week before the actual abortion because a person from Richmond needs to call you and read you all of your rights," she said. "It took about 20 minutes for them to read a legal document [over the phone]."
Mahoney was scheduled to have her abortion five weeks after becoming pregnant, she said.
Undergoing surgery
Mahoney said her boyfriend drove her to the clinic and stayed with her throughout the surgery.
"I consider myself really fortunate," she said. "I really don't know what I would have done ... [without] the support of my boyfriend."
Mahoney said that she was given the choice of deciding how she wanted to be anesthetized.
"I opted for general anesthesia with an IV," she said. "I thought that local wouldn't be enough with the pain."
During the procedure, Mahoney felt "woozy," but stayed conscious, she said.
"It was uncomfortable but wasn't painful," she said. "It was worse than a pap [smear] with really bad cramping, but that was as uncomfortable as it got."
Initially after her abortion, Mahoney said she experienced a few side effects.
"I was bleeding heavily at first, and they gave me pain pills for it," she said. "I was very nauseous, but I think that is because I react poorly to anesthesia."
Mahoney said it took three to four days for her to feel physically normal again. For weeks after her abortion, the main medical concern was the potential for infection.
For three weeks, "I was not allowed to have anything in my vagina at all," she said. "Six weeks later [I went in for an exam], everything was completely normal and my reproductive system was completely normal."
Mahoney said she feels it is important for people to know her story because she knows what it is like to be a University student and to have an abortion.
"I think it's necessary for me to say something because ... a lot of girls find themselves in this situation and they don't know what to do," she said. "You can be a normal person and survive and get an education."
Though unexpected pregnancies can be stressful and emotional, it is important to remember students have many options and resources available to them. Talking with doctors and counselors is a valuable way to ensure a student makes the choice that is right for herself and her partner.
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