ISSUE ANALYSIS: Community Agency Research _

As a maturing adolescent, I believe that an agency such as the Pregnancy Advisory Centre is a great place for young people to go who accidently fall pregnant, or who want to seek help about pregnancy. Abortion is thankfully a decreasing issue in todays society for people under 35, however is increasing for people aged over 35 and well into the sixties1. According to abortion statistics from Family Planning Queensland (FPQ), rates of about 28-29 abortions per 1000 women aged 15-44 years occurred between 2003 and 2008, which is considerably low and encouraging compared to the rate of 35 abortions per 1000 women in 1995. These statistics also gravely show that 49% of abortions made in 2008 were unsafe, which is where places such as the Pregnancy Advisory Centre are a safe place to seek help and abortions if needed. For my community agency research task, I have decided to investigate how useful and cooperative this agency is in response to the procedure of abortion. To conduct this investigation I will visit the agency’s website and use pamphlets to gather further information.

The Pregnancy Advisory Centre has been set up to provide services such as; abortion for women up to 22 weeks pregnant, surgical abortions, counselling for women, partners and significant others, post abortion telephone or face to face counselling, contraception and sexual health information2. These services are extremely useful for any woman or couples involved in a sexually active relationship who are looking for ways to stop getting pregnant, advise on how to get pregnant and how to terminate a pregnancy. It covers all aspects of health and wellbeing; the physical, social and emotional. These are excellent services for adolescents and young adults in particular who are becoming sexually active for the first time and need advice or counselling on contraception, this can be very helpful as well as a confidence booster as teenagers are naturally curious, however are incapable of raising a child, financially or securely, not to mention the disapproval and disappointment of parents and the community. The cost is not only emotional as most of these teenagers are unemployed and need financial, physical and emotional support from parents and/or the community. Rearing a new born is time consuming and physically draining on an individual often without a partner. There is also the loss of education and contribution to society long term by the young teenage mother.

The Pregnancy Advisory Centre advocate for women by; addressing the management of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, through factual and evidence based information, contraception and abortion strategies, providing a non-judgment environment for those whom choose to abort and understanding that fertility control is crucial to a woman’s health status. This is a case of an agency providing both a medical and social model of health. This agency is genuinely there to help pregnant teenagers with whatever medical attention they need in regards to keeping them healthy, happy and maintaining their health status in the community. They provide safe and ethical services that uphold the principles of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Amsterdam Declaration 2002.

Providing accessibility for all types of people is very important and a Social Justice imperative. The Pregnancy Advisory Centre is welcoming to all women, partners and significant others, irrespective of race, economic status or disability. They also offer interpreting services for those of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This welcomes many different people to use the service, no matter what their background or other limiting traits. This is crucial and an excellent opportunity so that these people are not secluded when seeking help about pregnancy and contraception. There is only one thing that needs to be done before going to the