Pregnancy Scare Resources
In our direct services, Scarleteen staff will no longer answer or engage with ANY questions or discussions stemming from or about pregnancy fear or anxiety from users who are not pregnant or who otherwise are not or have not been directly involved with an actual pregnancy.
To find out more about why, and what kinds of discussions we can and will engage with around pregnancy, click here.
We already provide all of our responses to these kinds of questions in content we have created on the site based on kinds of help we can ably provide: help that's just one click away.
Below is a curated list of links to information and help on our site and elsewhere that are about, or often part of, pregnancy fears or anxiety people are experiencing who are not pregnant, including factual information about reproduction, contraception, and what does and does not present pregnancy risks; self-help with managing stress, anxiety or fear; or content to help you with issues that may are often the why of pregnancy scares or fears, like unhealthy relationships or sexual dynamics, doing sexual things someone doesn't want or feel ready for, and not setting limits and boundaries with sex a person wants or needs.
What to do if you're having a pregnancy scare:
Education about how human reproduction works (and how it doesn't), including what kinds of contact do and do not present possible risks of pregnancy:
- Can I Get Pregnant, or Get or Pass On an STI From That?
- Human Reproduction: A Seafarer's Guide
- Who's Afraid of Sperm Cells?
- You Cannot Become Pregnant When You Have Pants On
- Have a Little Faith in BC
How to take a pregnancy test, and how pregnancy tests work:
How effective a given method or methods of contraception (birth control) have been and can be:
- Cervical Barriers
- Combined Oral Contraceptives (The Pill)
- Condoms
- The Contraceptive Implant
- The Contraceptive Patch
- Depo-Provera (The Shot or Jab)
- Emergency Contraception
- Fertility Awareness
- Intrauterine Devices (IUDs)
- Spermicides
- The Sponge
- The Vaginal Ring
- Withdrawal
Estimated effectiveness rates for any two methods of contraception used together:
Help with self-care to manage fear, anxiety or other stress:
If you are experiencing or otherwise part of any kind of pressuring, control or abuse in your relationship or sexual interactions:
- Does Your Relationship Need a Checkup?
- Driver's Ed for the Sexual Superhighway: Navigating Consent
- Hello, Sailor! How to Build, Board and Navigate a Healthy Relationship
Help leaving an unhealthy relationship:
Help making choices with parts of life, like sex, that carry big risks:
Help slowing down sexual activity that is unwanted or scaring you:
Help assessing whether you're ready to be sexual with a partner or not, or if your partner is or is not ready:
Help being more assertive, and less passive with limits, boundaries, and sex in general, and help with sexual communication:
- Be Your Own Superhero: Learning How and When to Stand Up for Ourselves
- When Sex "Just Happened" (And How to Make It Happen Instead)
- Be a Blabbermouth! The Whats, Whys and Hows of Talking About Sex With a Partner
Help if you are convinced you are or may be pregnant when that is either not realistically likely or possible, or things like menstrual periods and negative pregnancy tests have made clear you are not:
Help if you are worried about things you fear may be pregnancy symptoms, or have pregnancy concerns based on an app telling you you were ovulating:
- Chicken Soup for the Pregnancy Symptom Freakout's Soul
- Let's Dial Down Some (Maybe) Ovulation Freakouts
General information about chronic and/or irrational fear of pregnancy:
- http://nobullying.com/tokophobia/
- http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/explaining-tokophobia-the-phobia-of-pregnancy-and-childbirth-9726809.html
- http://anxietyinteens.org/fear-of-pregnancy/
Resources and services expressly for and about those struggling with anxiety or other mental health issues, including hotlines and references to organizations and sites that provide qualified help with anxiety and other mental health issues, can be found on this page.