What are your options for unplanned pregnancy in Louisiana? No doubt, pregnancy—no matter how you choose to respond to it, requires some decision. Specifically, you’ll have to think about how you’d like your future to look like. There are three general options available to pregnant parents:
If you are curious about adoption, you can contact us to get more information!
Which Unplanned Pregnancy Option in Louisiana is Right for Me?
Although there are different options for unplanned pregnancy, expectant birth parents choose each one for a variety of reasons. Just because parenting is right for one mother doesn’t mean that it’s the best option for another mother. After a certain point, abortion no longer becomes a viable option because state laws sometimes prevent late-term pregnancies.
That being said, even after you give birth, you may decide that parenting isn’t for you. In that case, adoption may still be a possibility for you. The same goes for adoption and abortion.
These decisions are best understood in their exact context, so it’s hard to give general advice about which one is best for you. Instead, it might help to consider what matters most to you in order to make a decision.
Parenting
If you’re pregnant, you might already be considering parenting. Parenting is right for a number of parents, but that isn’t necessarily the case for all parents. If parenting isn’t right for you, then you’ll have to consider adoption or abortion. If you’re struggling financially while pregnant, there are still some resources available to you, though, unfortunately, the social support blanket for expecting parents isn’t robust enough.
There can be other local social programs available to support expecting parents that educate them and provide them with necessary resources.
For example, expecting parents may qualify for WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid.
- WIC – A program that provides very specific kinds of foods to mothers to ensure that they and their children (until they reach a certain age) have the necessary nutrition to live healthy lives.
- SNAP – or supplemental nutrition assistance program, is a state-funded program that provides eligible applicants with funding for food. If you are eligible for SNAP, you may also be eligible for WIC. You can apply for SNAP here.
Abortion
Abortion is the medical termination of a pregnancy and is chosen by pregnant people for a variety of reasons. Abortion and adoption are two options available for parents uninterested in parenting. Some parents may need to terminate their pregnancy because of health concerns for either the child or the parent.
Pregnancies can also be medically terminated for numerous other reasons. Childbirth may not be what the parent saw for themselves and their future. Just as parenting is chosen for good reason, so too is abortion. Rarely, if ever, is abortion a cavalier decision. Instead, it is the result of deep care and consideration of competing interests.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion in Louisiana is illegal in most cases except when pregnancy interferes with the birthmother’s mortality. The legality of abortion is shifting on a state-by-state basis, and the legality of getting out-of-state abortions is still undetermined. If you want help with your unplanned pregnancy, abortion may be right for you. But if medically terminating your pregnancy and parenting are unviable for you for whatever reasons, then adoption is best for you.
Adoption
Adoption is when, following birth, a parent transfers legal custody of their child to another caregiver called their adoptive family. Adoption has many benefits and configurations. The benefits of adoption can include financial assistance for birthing mothers throughout their pregnancy to provide for clothes, food, and shelter, among other things.
This can help a birthing parent no matter her context or situation throughout her pregnancy. Similarly, adoption has several different configurations. Specifically, an adoption is either open or closed.
A closed adoption is when a birth mother does not have contact or a relationship with the adoptive family or their child following birth. In this kind of adoption, the adoption is mediated by an adoption specialist. An open adoption allows for a relationship between the birth parents, the adoptive family, and the child.
The degree to which adoption is open is established by the birth parent: you could be removed from their life barring a few occasional updates, like photos by text, or you could exchange gifts and attend major life events of your child.
No matter your situation, it’s important for you to remember what’s important to you. It’s essential that you make the best decision that aligns with the future that you envision for yourself, be it adoption, parenting or abortion. Here is a list of adoption agencies in Louisiana:
What’s Next?
If you would like more information, you can fill out our contact form. Even though adoption specialists work specifically with adoption, they will have information about general resources available to those who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy.
As you’ve seen here, there are several options for unplanned pregnancy—and you should always take the time to make sure that you make the right decision for yourself.
