Pro-Voice Counseling includes building a network of support for each person after-abortion. Exhale Pro-Voice’s free, national textline offers emotional support to individuals who have had abortions and to their allies. Recommending resources and referrals to other services is an important part of how Exhale Pro-Voice extends our mission beyond our own services. Click here for free downloads of Exhale Pro-Voice brochures, flyers, and referral cards.
After-abortion counseling & emotional support
While there are number of people, agencies and faith-based services that offer post-abortion support, we use the following criteria to assess our recommendations:
- does the service respect the full range of human emotions after an abortion?
- does the service empower each individual to define wellbeing for themselves after an abortion experience?
- does the service address specific needs we’ve heard expressed from our talkline callers and community members?
We have carefully screened and selected these resources. If a service has a one-size-fits-all approach to after-abortion emotions, or only meets one or two of our criteria, they are not listed here. We list the resources that can best support people across the spectrum of after-abortion emotional needs.
These organizations provide after-abortion counseling through a talkline:
All-Options
1-888–493-0092
Monday through Friday, 10 am – 1 am Eastern
Saturday through Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm Eastern
Connect & Breathe
1-866-647-1764
Tuesdays through Thursdays 6pm – 9pm Eastern
Saturdays 10am – 2pm Eastern
Faith Aloud
1-888-717-5010
You will reach a voicemail. Leave your first name and phone number; a counselor will call back. Trained counselors are clergy of various religious faiths: Roman Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Protestant Christian, and Buddhist. Persons of no particular religious faith are equally welcome to receive services. Faith Aloud supports reproductive freedom for every person. Watch their video “For Women Who Have Had An Abortion.”
Other After-Abortion Emotional Support Resources:
The following after-abortion resources do not necessarily reflect Exhale’s Pro-Voice approach to after-abortion support. We know that different approaches work for different people. If you use one of these, we would love to hear what you think about it!
Books
- The Healing Choice: Your Guide to Emotional Recovery after an Abortion, by Candace De Puy, Ph.D., M.S.W. and Dana Dovitch, PH.D., M.F.C.C.
- Experiencing Abortion: A Weaving of Women’s Words, by Eve Kushner.
- Peace after Abortion, by Ava Torre-Bueno. Website also available.
Websites
- Pregnancy Options: Includes helpful information about after-abortion feelings and some useful exercises to work through them.
- Hope Clinic: Offers many pamphlets on a range of issues for women and men after an abortion.
- Peace After Abortion: Website designed for women hurting after an abortion. There is also a book available.
- Being at Peace with Choices: A guided imagery CD available for purchase.
- Healthy Coping After an Abortion: A downloadable pdf available from the Abortion Conversation Project.
- Project Voice: An oral history project documenting abortion stories. Read stories or share your own.
- Inner Healing After Abortion: A downloadable booklet.
- Ending a Wanted Pregnancy: Supports women and men who have terminated a pregnancy specifically for medical reasons. Includes private forums, an email list to connect with others who have similar experiences, memorial ideas, and suggestions for healing.
- The Abortion Option: A Values Clarification Guide for Health Professionals: A downloadable pdf available from The National Abortion Federation.
Additional Resources for your Emotional & Physical Health Needs:
Abortion & Other Medical Information
If you believe that you are experiencing a medical emergency, please seek appropriate care immediately. In most communities in the United States, dial 911 for an emergency.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
1-800-230-7526 (PLAN); 24 hours; English and Spanish
Locates the nearest health care center for services, including: abortion, birth control, emergency contraception, general health care, HIV testing, Hepatitis vaccines and HPV vaccine, LGBT services, men’s health, patient education, pregnancy testing & pregnancy services, sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing & treatment, women’s health
National Abortion Federation
For financial information and general information about abortion, call toll free; 1-800-772-9100*
Weekdays: 7 am – 11 pm Eastern
Saturdays: 9 am – 9 pm Eastern
*This line is often busy and it can be challenging to reach someone. It’s best to make several attempts when calling this line.
For referrals to quality abortion providers or to report any issues with providers, call toll free; 1-877-257-0012
Weekdays: 9 am – 9 pm Eastern
Saturdays: 9 am – 5 pm Eastern
The Mayo Clinic
Medically accurate information about a range of women’s health topics online.
Crisis:
Currently Pregnant? Information and counseling about your options:
All-Options
1-888–493-0092
Monday through Friday, 10 am – 1 am Eastern
Saturday through Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm Eastern
The Pregnancy Options Workbook
This website includes helpful exercises to work through pregnancy decisions.
Domestic Violence
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call toll-free 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233)
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Eating Disorders
ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders)
Offers phone and email support, regional support groups, and related services and information for individuals and families regarding prevention and alleviation of eating disorders.
Health & Human Services
- Provides resources for issues of homelessness, poverty, health insurance, counseling services, employment support, childcare, etc.
- Free 24-hour service
- As of 2013, 2-1-1 is accessible to 90.6% of the population. If 2-1-1 is not available in your area you will reach a message indicating you have no 2-1-1 coverage.
- The 2-1-1 website can be used to look up information on local call centers.
LGBT Services
- LGBT National Hotline: 1-888-843-4564
- LGBT National Youth Talkline: 1-800-246-7743
- These lines are available Monday through Friday 1 – 9 pm and Saturday 9am – 2pm, Pacific
- Provides telephone and email peer counseling services around coming-out issues, relationship concerns, HIV/AIDS anxiety, safer-sex information, etc.
- Counselors can provide local resources across the United States.
Mental Health
Mental Health Association (MHA)
Comprehensive information about a wide range of mental health topics and disorders.
American Psychological Association (APA) Psychologist Locator
This is a tool to find a psychologist in your local area that allows you to consider many factors when searching.
We know it can feel difficult to seek after-abortion counseling, or talk about your experience with someone if you don’t know they’re your ally. After finding a couple of options, we suggest calling these providers and doing a phone interview in preparation of meeting in-person. You have the right to ask questions and make sure you would be getting the service you want. Also, you don’t have to give your name or any of your personal information during this process, just let them know you’re potentially interested in their services, but have a couple of questions first. After all, this person will be working for you.
In preparation of these interview calls, we suggest doing some thinking about what’s important to you in terms of the type of person you want to work with, and what experience they have. Here are some examples of questions we’ve come up with in partnership with some of our talkline callers:
1) Do you have any affiliations (political or otherwise) when it comes to abortion?
2) Do you have experience working with men and women around abortion experiences?
3) Do you practice non-judgmental listening?
These are just a couple options for you to think about. You can choose to use some of these, or not, depending on what’s important to you. These are just some ideas to get things started.
Miscarriage
First Candle
1-800-221-7437; English and Spanish; grief counselors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; available nationwide. Offers support services to ensure that grieving families receive compassionate grief support and have access to the most current information and materials when the loss of a baby occurs.
Parental Stress
Boys Town National Hotline
1-800-448-3000; 24 hours; English, Spanish and translation services
Crisis, resource, and referral line for teens and parents with any concern (suicide, depression, parental stress, school issues, domestic violence, substance abuse, and more).
Religious Counseling
Faith Aloud
1-888-717-5010
You will reach a voicemail. Leave your first name and phone number; a counselor will call back. Trained counselors are clergy of various religious faiths: Roman Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Protestant Christian, and Buddhist. Persons of no particular religious faith are equally welcome to receive services. Faith Aloud supports reproductive freedom for every person. See their video “For Women Who Have Had An Abortion.”
Sex and Sexuality
Sex, Etc
Sex education by teens, for teens.
Scarleteen
“Sex information for the real world.”
Sexual Assault
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Call toll-free 1-800-656-4673
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Substance Abuse
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1-800-662-4357; 24 hours; English, Spanish
For help finding the nearest drug and alcohol abuse and mental health treatment programs.
Suicide/Depression
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK (8255); 24 hours; English (other languages vary)
1-888-628-9454; 24 hours; Spanish
1-800-799-4TTY (4889);24 hours; TTY
Automatically connects you to your closest certified crisis center. Trained crisis center staff are available to listen to your needs and offer crisis counseling, suicide intervention, and mental health referral information.