Health Information
Pregnancy – what are my options?
Finding out that you are pregnant may mean you need to make a choice. You can choose to:
- Continue the pregnancy and care for the baby yourself.
- Have an abortion to end the pregnancy.
- Continue the pregnancy and choose adoption, kinship care or foster care.
You should see your GP or a Family Planning Tasmania GP to have tests to confirm the pregnancy and how many weeks pregnant you are.
A pregnancy options counsellor can help you with your decision making.
We've made all the steps involved into a picture! Go here to see our flowchart of the steps involved in continuing a pregnancy or having an abortion
What is pregnancy options counselling?
If you're undecided about whether you want to continue or end a pregnancy, you can speak to someone who provides “non-directive pregnancy options counselling”. This counselling allows you to make the decision that is best for you.
You can read more about pregnancy options counselling, and other counselling supports for pregnant people here.
Pregnancy Choices Tasmania can help you find a counsellor.
Medicare rebates
To receive the Medicare rebate for pregnancy options counselling you will need to get a referral from a GP.
Rebates are available for up to 3 sessions of non-directive pregnancy options counselling per pregnancy.
It is available to people who are pregnant or have been pregnant in the last 12 months. GPs and health workers must be registered with Medicare Australia as having completed non-directive pregnancy options counselling training to offer this service.
Women’s Health Tasmania offers free pregnancy options counselling.
Parenting
If you want to continue the pregnancy you should see a GP to confirm the pregnancy and arrange antenatal care (medical care during pregnancy).
It is up to you to decide what care you want during your pregnancy and where you want to give birth.
Pregnancy and early parenting can be stressful, so having support during this time can be helpful.
More information:
Pregnancy, Birth and Baby Helpline
A free national helpline staffed by maternal child health nurses to support parents, from pregnancy to preschool. They also have information for people living in rural Tasmania.
PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia)
A free national helpline that supports women, men and families who are affected by anxiety and depression during pregnancy and in the first year of parenthood.
A free national helpline that provides expert health advice from a registered nurse.
Alternative Care
If you cannot care for your child after birth, you can consider having someone else caring for them either on a temporary or permanent basis.
This could be:
- family caring for them (kinship care)
- temporary foster care
- permanent adoption, which means the adoptive parents have the legal rights and responsibilities for the child.
You can find out more about foster care and adoption from the State Government’s Adoption and Permanency Services program here.