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Abortion Counseling

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Overview

One of the most dramatic situations that an adolescent can experience is an unintended pregnancy and deciding what to do about it. These situations generally require counseling, both professional as well as informal, such as from trusted adults and peers. Yet, research that examines what adolescents do in these situations remains undeveloped, controversial, and marked by inconsistencies. The best research in the area focuses on basic statistics about the prevalence of pregnancies and abortions. Research on the outcomes of abortion has emerged, but much of it tends to not focus on adolescents. Commentaries relating to adolescents tend to focus on their rights, and little research has sought to understand how those rights are actually addressed in practice. Despite limitations in research, existing findings do reveal important findings that underscore the need for more research.

Prevalence of Abortions and Controversies

Unwanted pregnancies leading to abortions are common life...

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Correspondence to Roger J. R. Levesque .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Levesque, R.J.R. (2016). Abortion Counseling. In: Levesque, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_722-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_722-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32132-5

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