If you are reading this information, you have most likely received unexpected and upsetting news about your pregnancy. At Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, we now offer pregnancy termination for women whose pregnancies are not healthy, are not viable, or for other medical reasons, cannot continue. We at ARHC have both the experience and the staff to handle these emotionally painful pregnancy decisions. We understand that you are sad and concerned about your situation and that you may be in the midst of one of the most difficult decisions you've ever had to face.
Our Masters level counselors are specially trained to help women and their partners through this tough time. Printed materials designed to help with emotional healing are also available because we understand just how difficult it can be when an unexpected medical condition forces a couple to confront their options regarding a much wanted pregnancy. Our physicians, all of whom are affiliated with Magee Women's Hospital, have been performing abortions for fetal indications for decades and can now offer these same procedures at Allegheny Reproductive, where kindness, honor and respect have always been cornerstones of provider-patient relations. Our outstanding reputation for high quality services is the result of dedication to providing professional, caring and confidential health care. We believe that serving women is more than just treating her physical symptoms; our goal has always been to treat the whole woman, body, mind and soul.
Abortions at Allegheny Reproductive Health can be performed at any stage of pregnancy up to nineteen weeks, but only those women whose pregnancies are less than fourteen weeks have the additional option of choosing a completely private abortion for an additional fee. Pregnancies between fourteen and nineteen weeks must be done on a day when other abortion patients are also present in the clinic. While most of the women on any given procedure day will have chosen an elective abortion, everyone at ARHC, both staff and patients, is particularly sensitive to the grief, sadness and loss that frequently accompanies fetal indication abortion. In fact we understand that all women having an abortion can experience these feelings.
Procedures done from seventeen to nineteen weeks require three separate appointments, the first for us to do a complete evaluation of your situation including ultrasound, lab work and informed consent. (Occasionally the first visit can be waived if all the necessary paperwork can be sent to us quickly and easily.) The second appointment is usually shorter, involving only the insertion of overnight dilators that will help to open the cervix so that the procedure can be done the next day, usually as the first procedure of the morning. Following a brief recovery room stay, you may go home. We are available all hours of every day should either a medical or an emotional issue arise. Our answering service will direct your call to the appropriate person on call who will then return your call. On the third day the termination will be completed. All procedures over seventeen weeks are performed under IV sedation, which minimizes both awareness and discomfort. Most women have no memory of the procedure performed under sedation. In our recovery room, the carefully trained nurses will monitor you to be certain that your physical state is stable before releasing you to go home. Our physicians are available every hour of the day and night should you have any medical concerns after your departure.
ARHC is able to accept all insurance plans that cover the cost of the abortion and we also accept payment in the form of money order, credit card or debit card for those who do not have insurance coverage. In addition, we have an agreement with Care Credit, a company that lends money specifically for medical expenses. Our fee is considerably less than the hospital fee for the same procedure. Please call and tell us about your particular situation and we will discuss with you what we can do to make this time as comfortable as possible.
We are required by PA law to be certain that you have heard a certain speech read to you by a doctor followed by a 24 hour mandatory delay. If your doctor has already given you this information, please bring written proof. If not, we can make arrangements for you to receive the information quickly.
Allegheny Reproductive Health Center will handle arrangements for cremation after pathology. A small memento of your choice can be included in with the baby at the time it is sent for pathology. If you wish, you can receive a special memory packet which contains a copy of the ultrasound report if you do not have one, online and printed materials, and a little memento to take home with you. It is our hope that you and your loved ones feel comfortable and cared for while at ARHC. If there is anything else we should know or can do to make your visit easier, please let us know.
Traditionally, particularly in many Western faiths, there have been no rituals or ceremonies or prayers written to connect God's love and mercy to women's experience of pregnancy loss. Fortunately, today much work has been done to address this need. New prayers, rituals and ceremonies have been created and are available to help women and their families honor their loss, name their grief, and find solace in the warmth of family, friends, and their faith community.
Cardin, Rabbi Nina Beth; Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss; (Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont) 1999 A sourcebook of prayers and rituals around pregnancy loss and infertility.
Kluger-Bell, Kim; Unspeakable Losses: Healing from Miscarriage, Abortion, and Other Pregnancy Loss, (W.W. Norton, New York) 1988 A psychotherapist shares stories of pregnancy loss, advice, and rituals for healing.
Kohn, Ingrid; Moffitt, Perry-Lynn; and Wilkins, Isabelle A; A Silent Sorrow: Pregnancy Loss - Guidance and Support for You and Your Family, (Routledge: London), 2000.
Describes different types of pregnancy loss, as well as medical and religious ways to cope with it.
Lanham, Carol Cirulli; Pregnancy After a Loss: A Guide to Pregnancy After a Miscarriage, Stillbirth or Infant Death (The Berkley Publishing Group: New York), 1999.
Lerner, Henry, Miscarriage: Why it Happens and How Best to Reduce Your Risks—A Doctor's Guide to the Facts, (Perseus Publishing: USA), 2003. Discusses the causes of miscarriage including scientific explanations. Also has a section on ways to cope emotionally with miscarriage.
When Pregnancy Involves Loss: Helping Others Face Problem Pregnancies, Advocacy Committee for Women's Concerns, General Assembly Council, Presbyterian Church (USA), 2004. A resource for women and men who have faced pregnancy loss, and the pastors and counselors who help them. Addresses issues of abortion, adoption, miscarriage, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome.
www.compassionatefriends.org
The Compassionate Friends is a website of resources for parents, friends, and clergy of those who have suffered pregnancy loss
www.ferre.org
"Healing from Miscarriage" brochure on miscarriage, includes the "healing bill of rights."
www.centeringcorp.com
Centering Corporation – offers a catalogue of resources on dealing with grief, including resources on pregnancy loss and infant death, links to other websites.
www.nationalshareoffice.org
Pregnancy support network that offers a newsletter, chatrooms, events, and facts about miscarriage.
www.marchofdimes.org
Information on prevention, health concerns, and science based explanations.
We are grateful to Rabbi Bonnie Margulis for this section.