Service Principles
- The role of the Pregnancy Advisory Centre is to provide women who have unplanned pregnancy with a safe, high quality, publicly funded, accessible service covering information provision, counselling and decision-making, abortion, and contraception.
- It is a woman’s right to decide when and how she will control her own fertility. Fertility control is crucial to the health status of women.
- Given Australian attitudes towards sexuality; the social, economic and relationship factors influencing fertility control behaviour; and, the limitations of current contraceptive methods, it is imperative that abortion services be accessible to all women.
- Societal attitudes toward abortion tend to negatively influence women’s experience of abortion. The Centre aims to counter this by affirming women’s rights and making the experience a personally strengthening one by:
- using a compassionate, non-judgmental approach with language which is respectful of women;
- providing full information (translated and interpreted as needed) about all aspects of the service;
- giving attention to both the emotional and physical needs of women; and
- facilitating women’s right to make informed choices in their lives.
- Partners and other people important to the women using the Centre will be made welcome and treated with respect.
- The Centre will work closely with other health service providers to ensure the coordination, accessibility and continuing improvement of services.