June 2017

Unplanned pregnancy / Women with cancer 

Clearinghouse Connector - Unplanned pregnancy

This Connector focuses on the experience of unplanned pregnancy in Australia and the resources available for women and health professionals to help navigate the decision making process. For information on related topic areas such as abortion, medical abortion, long acting reversible contraception, please see previous Connectors, which can be found here.

Although there is surprisingly little information available about the prevalence of unintended pregnancy in Australia, it has been estimated that half of all pregnancies per year in Australia are unplanned. Outcomes for unplanned pregnancies include parenting, miscarriage, abortion and adoption, with parenting being the most likely outcome and adoption the least likely.

Factors influencing women’s decisions about whether or not to continue a pregnancy include the level of support they are likely to receive, the financial resources they have access to, and their own emotional readiness to become parents. Regardless of whether a woman decides to continue or terminate her pregnancy she will need access to appropriate, sensitive and non-judgmental supports and services.
 

BreaCan is now Counterpart - women supporting women with cancer

On 31 May 2017, Women’s Health Victoria welcomed over 100 guests to launch the new name of their valued cancer support service, BreaCan. Dale Fisher, CEO of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, unveiled the new brand, Counterpart – Women supporting women with cancer to great fanfare.

BreaCan has provided quality support and information to women living with breast or a gynaecological cancer more than 25,000 times since opening in 2003. As Counterpart, the service will continue to provide the same high quality support to women across Victoria.

Read the Counterpart media release

Visit the new Counterpart website

Women's Health Victoria Website