Unplanned Pregnancy Support Services

Unplanned Pregnancy Support Services

Irish Family Planning Association

The IFPA provides confidential and non-directive pregnancy counselling services for women and their partners who are experiencing an unintended pregnancy or a pregnancy which has become a crisis. This service is funded by the HSE and there is no cost to clients. It’s operated by professional and accredited counsellors at ten locations nationwide.

At the IFPA we know that an unplanned pregnancy or a pregnancy which has become a crisis can cause a range of feelings and emotions. Sometimes it can also bring up other issues and concerns. Talking can help you to make sense of mixed or confused feelings.

During a counselling session, our counsellors will listen to you and help you explore and work through these issues. They will also give you accurate, honest and clear information about all your pregnancy options – abortion, parenting and adoption. The IFPA is a pro-choice organisation and our counsellors will support a woman’s own decision in all cases.

Our pregnancy counselling service includes:
Confidential and non-directive pregnancy counselling
Information on abortion and how to access abortion services in other states
Information on adoption and parenting support services
Information on pre-natal results and options
Ongoing counselling including post-abortion counselling
Our Counsellors
All our counsellors are experienced and professionally trained and accredited by the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) or Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP).

Locations
The Crisis Pregnancy Counsellor for the northwest is in Donegal Women’s Centre.

Coronavirus/Covid19
To keep you safe and well and to protect our counsellors, we are not currently providing face-to-face consultations. All counselling is being provided over the phone. For more information, see our Covid19 page.

Contact
To book an appointment, call the IFPA Pregnancy Counselling Service on 1850 49 50 51

My Options freephone line

An unplanned pregnancy may leave you feeling worried and confused. You may or may not have many conflicting and strong feelings about your pregnancy.

My Options is a HSE freephone line that provides free and confidential information and counselling to people experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.

Unplanned pregnancy counselling can support you to cope with your unplanned pregnancy. It can help to talk to someone who can help support you to find the answers to your questions.

How to contact My Options

We’re here to support you.

Information and counselling:
Monday to Friday: 9am to 8pm
Saturday: 10am to 2pm

Medical advice:
24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Freephone: 1800 828 010
Outside of the Republic of Ireland: +353 1 687 7044

Irish Sign Language
Book an appointment   to access the service using sign language through Irish Remote Interpreting Service

Webchat
Contact My Options by webchat here for information and support.
See more information about this service below

Webchat

During your webchat we will ask you for your phone number if you need:

  • contact details of GPs who provide abortion services
  • medical advice from our nursing team

This is so we can give you a call back with the information you need.

All unplanned pregnancy counselling sessions are confidential. This is the same for our webchat service. Find out more about what confidentiality means.

Freephone line

If you phone our counselling service outside of our opening times or if all our counsellors are busy, you can leave a message. One of our counsellors will phone you back during opening times. We will return your call as soon as we can, ideally on the day, but certainly within 24 hours. We will attempt to contact you twice.

We will support you through an unplanned pregnancy, no matter what option you choose.

If you or someone you know doesn’t speak English

If you don’t speak English we can provide you with an interpreter. They will help you speak to a MyOptions counsellor over the telephone in your own language.

We can provide an interpreter for 240 different languages. This service is also free and confidential.

If you would like to speak to a MyOptions counsellor using an interpreter, call us on freephone 1800 828 010.

You or someone on your behalf will need to:

  • tell us what language you speak
  • give us your phone number

An interpreter will then phone you back for a 3-way call between:

  • you
  • a MyOptions counsellor
  • the interpreter

How we can help

Our helpline can provide you with information and support on all your options, including continued pregnancy supports and abortion services.

We can provide you with counselling over the phone. We can also provide you with information on free face-to-face counselling.

If you choose to continue with your pregnancy, we can support you with this option.

If you decide that you want to have an abortion, we can provide you with information on abortion services. We can also provide you with post-abortion support.

My Options provides a 24/7 nursing team for medical support and reassurance to people who are in the process of having, or who have recently had, an abortion. The nursing team can provide medical advice if you are experiencing clinical symptoms following an abortion, for example, bleeding or pain. They can also advise on when to go to a doctor.

Support for partners

Unplanned pregnancy counselling is not just for someone who is pregnant. Speaking with a counsellor can help if you are a partner of someone who is pregnant.