David R. Mace describes how in the early years of abortion’s legalization, women did not have much of a chance to talk to counselors about their abortion decisions. Today, often the only “counselors” women speak to before their abortions are those that are employed by the clinic. The clinic is, after all, selling abortions. Crisis pregnancy centers have tried to fill the gap, providing information for women that is not given out in the clinics.
“What counseling services are in fact available to this woman [who is considering abortion]? There are, of course, competent professional men and women in every community- psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, pastoral counselors, marriage counselors. But she probably knows little of these people to meet her particular need. She may make tentative inquiries only to find she can’t get an appointment for several weeks- such people are usually heavily booked up. She may in any case need several interviews at short notice, and that introduces greater complications. Also, there is the problem of cost- she may be scraping the bottom of the financial barrel to pay for the abortion if she decides to have it. Generally speaking, the usual professional counseling services seem to be pretty inaccessible to this woman.”
David R. Mace Abortion: The Agonizing Decision (Oliphants, 1973) 111
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