he Women’s Options Center (WOC) offers high quality, sensitive, confidential abortion and family planning services; conducts clinical research to advance knowledge and improve abortion care; and trains future abortion care providers. The WOC serves as a premier clinical service and a model for hospitals and clinics throughout the country. In addition to abortion counseling and services, we provide contraceptive counseling and dispense a method of birth control to each patient on the day of the procedure.
Our attending physicians are faculty members of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Our licensed nursing staff has over 20 years of experience providing abortion care. Our nurses are present during and after all phases of the procedure and provide the highest quality of care and support. Our professional counselors provide extensive individual counseling before the procedure, and are present during and after the procedure to offer support. Many of our staff are bilingual/bicultural in Spanish, and interpreters are available for most other languages.
Our location within SFGH allows us to treat even the most medically complicated and high-risk patients in a safe and comfortable environment. Limited access to abortion providers elsewhere in Northern and Central California causes women from other cities to seek care at the WOC. The abortion care provided by the WOC is becoming increasingly important as the number of other providers steadily decreases.
In addition to surgical procedures, the WOC pioneered medication abortion and effective pain relief during procedures. Research continues on ways to increase the use of highly effective post-abortion contraception. The clinic maintains its mission of educating future generations of providers by training (UCSF) students, residents, and fellows, as well as those from other medical schools that do not have training programs. The residents and fellows obtain highly valued skills necessary to provide women with continued access to safe and respectful second-trimester abortion care.
In the fall of 2008, renovations to the WOC were completed. The new design improved patient flow and has provided us with a private waiting room, an additional procedure room, a central nurse station and a spacious recovery area. Striking floral artwork by San Francisco artist Neil Seth Levine offers a beautiful and contemplative focus for patients and staff. Finishes and colors were selected to make this a uniquely respectful space; the clinic’s design creates a compassionate and supportive environment.
Areas of greatest need include practical and logistical support for our patients, the vast majority of whom are low income and face barriers to accessing health care:
- Safeway gift cards for patients who can’t afford to pay for food
- Gas cards for those who lack sufficient funds to return home
- Taxi vouchers for patients who are medically unstable
