How can a medical pregnancy center determine the risk a woman has in getting an abortion? If a woman arrives for her appointment and she says, “I don’t want to get an abortion” is that enough NOT to consider her part of the population of pregnant women at risk for abortion? If a boy living in inner-city Chicago says, “I don’t want to be part of a gang,” or “I don’t want to do drugs” is that enough to convince us that he is not at risk for gang violence or drug abuse? There are a list of pressures and influences in that boy’s life that typically drive him to make decisions he would not in other circumstances choose for himself. Things like having no father, having friends that are involved in gangs, being in a school that is saturated with drug use, living in a neighborhood riddled with crime, etc.
Objecitvely Assess a Woman’s Abortion Vulnerability
The same is true of women facing unplanned pregnancy. Not a sane woman alive actually ‘wants’ to have an abortion. So why are they having them? Circumstances and pressures that are common to most women who get an abortion present in her life. The question then becomes, “What are those pressures and how many of them does she have?” Often when a woman arrives for her initial appointment at a pregnancy center she has not had to face the mountain of pressure waiting for her when she leaves. This means that it is up to the pregnancy center to know and objectively understand the pressures unique to her life to accurately determine her vulnerability of having an abortion. At CompassCare we use a measurement tool that takes into consideration 7 primary risk factors that are typically found in the lives of women getting abortion. We call this an abortion-vulnerability rating scale.
The following can be used as a tool. The idea is to identify how many of the risk factors are present and then add them up and use the scale at the end to determine the rating. It takes all the guesswork out of it for the advocates and nurses.
Abortion Vulnerability Rating
Risk Factors
Still in school (H.S./college/grad)
Between 17 and 26 years old
Father of baby in favor of abortion
Parents in favor of abortion
History of abortion
Financial pressure
Single
** Patient states intention to abort=(AM, regardless of other risk factors)
Total # of Pressures ____
Abortion Vulnerability Rating____
(Abortion Vulnerability Key: 0 = CTT, 1-3 = AV, 4-7 = AM)
For more information on CompassCare’s linear service model go to prcoptimizationtool.com.