The Abortion Question and Pastoral Counseling

ABSTRACT Successful sessions often require the counselor to engage in interdisciplinary exchange (1) to gain critical information and (2) to explore models and new ways of lookingat issues. This article offers one example of the interdisciplinary venture on the abortion issue. Far-reaching decisions are sometimes made in an inescapable climate of ambiguity. Often pastoral counseling proves most useful when counselor and counselee must work together in confronting informed ambiguity and in coming to terms with their own ambivalence. The abortion issue is so steeped in ambiguity that some counselors try to avoid dealing with it in their sessions. The issue is not only emotion-laden but cognitively challenging. It places considerable strain on pastoral counselors to open themselves to learn from their parishioners why their beliefs and values are meaningful to them. It also challenges the counselees to think as well as to feel about their deepest convictions.