Professional Services

At Hope Clinic, we want you to know about all the services available to you. From pregnancy testing to different types of abortions to options counseling, you'll receive compassionate care, expert knowledge and the emotional support to get you through your abortion decision.
	Pregnancy Testing
Hope Clinic offers pregnancy testing. You can call Hope Clinic at (800) 844-3130 or (618) 451-5722, to set up a convenient time.
	Emergency contraception
		“Morning After Pill”
	Birth Control
After having an abortion at Hope Clinic, we offer the most advanced types of birth control methods following an abortion, including:

		Ortho Evra “the Patch”

		Nuvaring “the Vaginal Ring”

		Birth Control Pills

Abortion Services

Hope Clinic provides the most current and safest abortion services from 4 to 24 weeks from the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP).

First Trimester Abortion

Types of Abortions

Up to 8 weeks LMP

Medical Abortions

	Abortion Pill &
Please (click here) for the requirements to have a Medical Abortion

Up to 15 weeks LMP

Surgical Abortions

Vacuum Aspiration

Second Trimester Abortion

Types of Abortions

15 to 24 weeks LMP

Dilation and Evacuation ( D&E )

Comparison of Medical and Surgical Abortions (click here)

	Terminating A Pregnancy for Medical Reasons
When prospective parents must cope with the heart wrenching, painful and deeply personal decision to end a wanted pregnancy for reasons of fetal abnormality, Hope Clinic helps with private, individualized care, understanding and compassionate support.
		Your emotional well-being at this difficult time—is our top priority.

Hope offers comforting features:

		a private waiting room

		a caring support person during the procedure

		a private recovery room

		assistance for arranging genetic testing after the procedure (if desired)

		a helping hand to contact clergy and/or funeral home (if desired)

		a memory box (including ultrasound picture, foot print, (if possible).

Several of our staff have lived through these tragedies and would be quite willing to talk with you. We at the Hope Clinic will do everything possible to make this difficult time as smooth as possible for you.

If you have special needs, please call Hope Clinic and be sure to ask about special services, when you make your appointment. You may ask for Debbie or Gwen.

Specialized Care, Fetal Anomaly

In cases of fetal anomaly, fees are increased by $100 to include specialized care.

Additional Services
As a vital resource for women, Hope Clinic offers additional reproductive health care services:
	Options Counseling
You may not know all the options available to you when you come to Hope. That's why you have a Hope counselor who will listen carefully to your thoughts and feelings. You'll learn that you do have a choice on: adoption, abortion and/or parenting. Importantly, the counselor will help you clarify (not sway) your feelings about these choices and your ability to deal with each one.
		With information and Hope's support, you'll be able to make an informed decision on your own without anyone telling you what you should or shouldn’t do.
All of us at Hope Clinic understand all too well the issues that surround an unplanned pregnancy. And, if you choose abortion, you'll learn about the abortion procedure and birth control methods now available to you.
Importantly, while most women cope successfully during and after their abortion experience, there are factors that predispose a woman to cope poorly. For those women, counseling is a must as well as a strong support system and if appropriate, spiritual support.

Factors that increase the probability of difficult coping after an abortion:
	1.	Feeling extreme guilt, shame, or loss and expecting to regret that she ever had the abortion and having an effective strategy for coping.
	2.	Feeling pressured into having an abortion for someone else’s benefit (usually male partner or parent).
	3.	Believing that abortion is “killing her baby” the exact same thing as murdering a newborn.
	4.	Believing that God won't forgive and doubting either own ability to forgive herself, prolonging deep guilt and shame.
	5.	Feeling undecided 50/50 about whether or not the abortion is best but proceeding with the abortion anyway.
	6.	Finding thoughts of abortion very troubling but dealing with it by going back to old habits: blocking it out of her mind completely or drinking and using drugs rather than seeking emotional support.
	7.	Feeling no emotional support from her male partner or parent if they know about the pregnancy and having little or no support from any other friend or family member.
	8.	Having a personal history of doubting past decisions and using “if only” thinking. “If only I had the baby my boyfriend would have stayed…my mother would love me…my life would have turned out better,” etc.
	9.	Having untreated depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia or other emotional illness and not taking the medication or receiving proper treatment for the disorder.
	10.	Belonging to a church or believing in a religion that emphasizes a punishing God, sin and judgment rather than a loving God, forgiveness and redemption.
	11.	Blaming someone else rather than taking responsibility for making the decision.

Hope will do everything possible to support you by providing the very best medical care and compassionate understanding to help you get on with your life.

Family counseling and family planning are available at no charge for parents and partners on the day of the procedure.

Hope Clinic has counselors who speak Spanish and they can help you with your questions and concerns.

Training Programs for Professionals

Hope Clinic provides workshops to family planning agencies on abortion counseling and medical abortion. For more information about the workshops or a tour of Hope Clinic please contact: askhope@hopeclinic.com.

Need a Speaker?

Hope Clinic professionals speak regularly to groups, schools and organizations about

		choices

		abortion

		birth control

		sexuality education

		diffusing volatile situations

		and more

If you would like a representative from Hope to present an informative talk on a wide range of reproductive issues, please contact us at askhope@hopeclinic.com.

Requirements for A Medical Abortion at Hope Clinic:
	Please check one .........................................................		yes	no
		Are you sure of the abortion decision?
		Will you be more than 56 days pregnant (8.0 weeks) on the day of your appointment?
		Are you age 18+ or will you have the participation of a parent?
		Will you NOT be breast-feeding or be willing to bottle-feed for 3 days after the abortion pill?
		Do you understand the protocol and you will be able to make the arrangements necessary for a safe medical abortion at home?
		Will you have someone to watch any small children during the time of miscarriage?
		Do you live within 1 hour of Hope Clinic or a hospital?
		Do you have a phone?
		Are you able to communicate effectively in English?
		Are you able to return for a 2nd or 3rd visit to Hope Clinic?
		It’s advisable but not required that a support person be with you or be “on call” on the day of the misoprostol pill insertion. Will you have someone with you?

	Health Requirements:
		Do you have adequate hematocrit (over 30%) and adequate hemoglobin (over l0 g/dL) per Hope Clinic’s lab test?
		Do you have an active alcohol/drug addiction?
		Do you have sickle cell or severe anemia?
		Do you have a blood clotting disorder?
		Are you on any blood thinner?
		Are you willing to wait for the miscarriage to occur?
		Do you have: Hepatitis or other liver disease? (Inactive Hepatitis A is OK)
		Do you have kidney, liver, or bowel disease?
		Do you have heart disease that is AHA class 3 or worse?
		Do you have uncontrolled seizure disorder?
		Do you have Immune Deficiency Disorder?
		Are you willing to have a surgical abortion if the medical abortion fails?

If you answered ‘NO’ to any of these questions and would like more information, please contact Hope Clinic.

Morning after Pills (Emergency Contraception)

Morning after pills (emergency contraception) MUST be taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse in order to be effective. The sooner you take them, the more effective they are!

In the unlikely event the morning after pill treatment fails, most experts working in the fields of high-risk pregnancy and genetics feel exposure to contraceptive hormones in early pregnancy does not pose an undue risk of causing abnormalities in the pregnancy. Nonetheless, A WOMAN WHO WOULD CONTINUE A PREGNANCY IF THE TREATMENT FAILED, SHOULD NOT TAKE THE MORNING AFTER PILL.

While this treatment is not meant for continuous birth control, it may be repeated several times a year, even several weeks apart, for emergency situations.

Emergency Contraception is a combination of hormones found in certain birth control pills, and often called morning after pills. If you had unprotected intercourse midway through your menstrual cycle and want to reduce the likelihood of becoming pregnant, you may want to consider the morning after pills.

Morning after pills MUST be taken within 72 hours (the sooner the better!) of unprotected intercourse in order to be effective. If you do nothing, some researchers say your chances of becoming pregnant may fall between 2% and 30%.

Basically, this combination of hormones works in three ways. They prevent the ovaries from releasing an egg. They make it difficult for sperm to meet an egg. They change the lining of the uterus (womb) in such a way that if an egg is fertilized by a sperm, the fertilized egg may not attach and develop further. These pills, however, do not prevent pregnancy 100% of the time. While there is no refund if these pills fail, the cost of the emergency contraceptive pills will be deducted from the cost of an abortion if you choose to terminate this pregnancy at Hope Clinic.

You may have nausea from the pills. It is usually mild and stops within a day or so after treatment. Taking Dramamine (an over-the-counter motion sickness medication) or having something to eat or drink before you take the pills can help prevent nausea. Dramamine can make you drowsy. If you vomit within two hours after taking your first pills, take your next dose of pills. Call the clinic as soon as possible, you will need to take additional pills to make up for the ones lost in vomiting. If you can’t keep the pills down the treatment won't work. You may also experience some breast tenderness and a headache.

Spotting after you take these pills is nothing to worry about. Your next menstrual period should begin sometime within the next 2 or 3 weeks. If your period has not started in 3 weeks, or if you have an unusual period (lighter or shorter than usual), please call The Hope Clinic because this means you might be pregnant. We suggest you return to Hope Clinic in 10-12 days for a pregnancy test or purchase a home test to confirm that you are not pregnant.

Watch for pill danger signs which would indicate rare but serious side effects. While complications are not likely with the morning after hormone treatment, if you have any of the following danger signs, seek immediate medical treatment.

		Severe abdominal or pelvic pain

		Chest pain - severe shortness of breath

		Severe headaches

		Eye problems - blurred vision. loss of vision, blind spots

		Severe leg pain in calf or thigh

		Arm pain

Get started immediately on some form of birth control. If you do not have a regular health care provider, our receptionist will be happy to refer you to a physician or clinic near you.