Genital Herpes and How It Spreads

Dedicated to the education and support of pregnant women and new mothers, Real Alternatives provides confidential education and guidance on gestation, parenting, and sexual health. Real Alternatives strives to help women understand the risks of various sexually transmitted diseases, including genital herpes.

A common sexually transmitted disease, or STD, genital herpes affects approximately one out of every six people in the United States. It is a viral infection caused by type 1 or 2 of the herpes simplex virus, the former of which is also a common cause of cold sores or fever blisters. These temporary growths typically develop from contact with infected saliva and are not related to sexual activity, though oral intercourse may cause genital herpes in a person whose partner has the oral form of the disease. Genital herpes may also develop from genital-to-genital contact when one partner has a genital herpes infection.

The infection stems from contact with infected skin or bodily fluids, though the infected partner does not need to have a visible sore or even a known diagnosis to spread it. It is not possible to contract genital herpes from linens, toilet seats, or other surrounding surfaces. It is also not likely that a sore covered with a condom can lead to transmission of the disease, though the infected person may have an uncovered sore that can cause cross-infection despite use of a condom.

Real Alternatives Achieves Successful Indiana Expansion

Real Alternatives is a nonprofit organization that leverages the support of more than 140 service providers to assist women in finding life-affirming solutions to unexpected pregnancies. Established in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1996, Real Alternatives has since expanded its services to Michigan and Indiana. In November 2014, Indiana became the third state to welcome Real Alternatives to its social services landscape. That month, the nonprofit pregnancy and parenting support organization partnered with the state to create and administer the Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program of Indiana, which directs women in crisis pregnancies to abortion alternatives such as counseling and mentorship programs.

At the time, Real Alternatives had served over 250,000 women at its 95 Pennsylvania centers, in addition to more than 1,700 women served at its 17 Michigan centers since 2013. Its expansion to Indiana allowed the nonprofit to deliver its life-affirming services to a host of new communities throughout Indiana. The partnership between Real Alternatives and the Indiana government began with a yearlong trial engagement, during which the state’s health department provided a $1 million contract with Real Alternatives to establish 16 pregnancy support centers. Over the course of the year, these centers served approximately 8,400 clients at nearly 17,000 visits, providing services to assist mothers both before and after giving birth.

This network continues to operate similarly to Real Alternatives programs in other states, with Real Alternatives administering the service provider payments, inspections, client advertising and education material purchases in order to provide free counseling support and resources to expectant mothers.

Real Alternatives Launches Mobile Outreach Program

Support Through Mobile Outreach

For more than 20 years, Real Alternatives has served as a vital source of hope and support to women who have become pregnant unexpectedly. Operating through a network of some 144 service centers dispersed throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives facilitates a variety of services, including mobile community outreach.

In February 2014, Real Alternatives helped launch a new initiative to expand the reach of its services in Philadelphia. Titled Beautiful Beginnings, the program kicked off with the nonprofit’s donation of a customized van to Archdiocesan Catholic Social Services (CSS), a Real Alternatives partner for over two decades. Thoughtfully decorated with the peaceful face of an infant, the van allows the organizations to provide mobile outreach services to new and expectant mothers throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The van operates from the Archdiocesan CSS center in Northeast Philadelphia, delivering counseling services to women struggling with crisis pregnancies. The two organizations marked the launch of the new initiative with an event held at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center, during which Bishop John J. McIntyre gave his blessing to the outreach vehicle and delivered a brief homily. In addition to providing immediate emotional support, the mobile outreach van staff is equipped to connect women with resources available throughout their communities. As described by CSS case manager Allison Kane, “This is important because we have a lot of families who need our services.”

Tips for Supporting Your Partner During Pregnancy

Supporting Your Partner Diring Pregnancy

Through 144 centers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana, Real Alternatives provides compassionate, nondiscriminatory support and services to pregnant women and new parents. In addition to helping women through pregnancy, Real Alternatives operates a nonjudgmental hotline service (1-888-LIFE-AID) to help expecting fathers through the process. Upon learning that they're going to be fathers, many men may feel anxious, shocked, and afraid. Reaching out and discussing their feelings is important, as is finding ways to show their expecting partners that they care. The qualified counselors on the Real Alternatives hotline can help soon-to-be-fathers accurately express their emotions with their partners and provide guidelines to ensure that the new mothers’ needs are met throughout the pregnancy. This will require patience and understanding, and new mothers will feel more confident knowing that their partners are going through the process with them. For additional guidelines, visit realalternatives.org. Real Alternatives also offers a Spanish-language website, https://www.realalternatives.org/es/home-es/.

Real Alternatives’ Support Services for New Mothers

New Mothers

Providing human services programs spanning three states (Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan), Real Alternatives leverages the power of existing provider centers to coordinate life-affirming pregnancy support services. Over the last two decades, Real Alternatives has assisted more than 300,000 women statewide in navigating the pregnancy and childbirth process.

The charitable nonprofit’s services extend to new mothers, with support that helps them to deal with the profound responsibilities associated with motherhood over the first 12 months. By calling 1-888-LIFE-AID, new mothers can access an array of services that address concerns such as caring for an infant and managing the associated expenses.

No-cost parenting classes are also available and help to build up the skills of the mother. Service providers also direct women to appropriate community resources in the areas of health care and insurance, as well as food, clothing, and even furniture. Every effort is made to keep the mother and her infant healthy. In cases where mothers have no place to stay, Real Alternatives can also provide temporary shelter for the new family.

The Role of Real Alternatives’ Service Providers

Real Alternatives provides a range of services to expectant and new mothers dealing with the stresses of parenthood. To provide counseling and support to clients throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives partners with more than 140 nonprofit service providers.

This network of service providers includes maternity homes, pregnancy support facilities, and social service and adoption agencies, all of which provide pregnancy-related services that help people understand the alternatives to abortion and help pregnant women confront the pressures that often come with pregnancy.

To become part of the Real Alternatives network, a provider must demonstrate that it has offered its services for at least one year and must undergo a rigorous screening process that typically takes between 45 and 60 days. In the majority of cases, the service providers in the Real Alternatives network employ staff members educated to the degree level in subjects including nursing and social work.

Real Alternative Counselors Focus on Forming Close Bonds with Clients

Real Alternatives is a nonprofit, taxpayer-funded organization that provides pregnancy support, parenting assistance, and abortion alternatives to women throughout Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. In an interview with Peter Kay of K-LOVE’s Closer Look, Real Alternatives CEO and president Kevin Bagatta discussed the organization’s counselors and their commitment to forming close relationships with clients through their mantra of being “caring, confidential, and compassionate.”

Many women with an unexpected pregnancy who come into a clinic lack family support or feel pressured from their loved ones to terminate their pregnancy. The program’s staff encourages clients to share their thoughts and opinions and helps them to navigate their unique situations. In addition, they help families to clear up miscommunications about each other’s assumptions, especially in cases where the mother mistakenly thinks that her partner doesn’t want a child. These engagements focus on empowering women and helping them to explore the various alternatives to abortion.

Another important aspect of the program is the bond that counselors form with their clients. Counselors offer services and resources throughout the mother’s pregnancy and assist her in taking the necessary steps for parenthood or adoption. This can involve referrals to adoption agencies, educational classes on parenting, or help in acquiring the items needed to care for their infants. Furthermore, the counselor-client relationship continues after the mother gives birth, as the organization offers postnatal support for up to one year.

Abortions Numbers at Lowest on Record in Pennsylvania

With centers located throughout Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, Real Alternatives offers support and resources with a focus on providing alternatives to abortion for women experiencing an unexpected pregnancy. The nonprofit is a recipient of the Seal of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and adheres to Department of Public Welfare standards. Moreover, Real Alternatives’ efforts helped to reduce the number of abortions in Pennsylvania over the last few years.

According to a December 2018 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, abortions reached the lowest number on record at slightly over 30,000 in 2017. This represents a decrease of 870 from the previous year and marks a considerable improvement from the all-time high of nearly 66,000 abortions in 1980. While this news demonstrates a positive trend, many organizations are working diligently to reduce the number even further.

Among them is Real Alternatives, which has provided free pregnancy support services and information on abortion alternatives over the course of more than two decades. It operates the toll-free number 1-888-LIFE AID and collaborates with adoption homes, pregnancy centers, and Catholic charity centers throughout the states that it serves. Since its inception, it has assisted over 300,000 women.

Real Alternatives Encourages Fathers in the Support Network

With offices in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, Real Alternatives partners with state social service agencies to provide free counseling and support to women experiencing unexpected pregnancies. Real Alternatives has worked since the 1990s to offer a commodity often in short supply - compassionate, warm, personalized care delivered without judgment and with the goal of helping women choose life and become self-sufficient for the benefit of themselves and their babies.

The organization also encourages family members and loved ones of the woman experiencing the unexpected pregnancy to provide emotional and physical support to her. Among other things, it provides information on its website about how to better support a friend, daughter, or girlfriend as she struggles to cope with an unplanned pregnancy.

Information directed to male partners focuses on providing the same type of nonjudgmental advice that will help them to be better listeners and active participants in their girlfriends’ and children’s lives.

The biological father of the pre-born baby can be a much-needed anchor during this stressful time in his girlfriend’s life by simply allowing her to talk, helping her with practical needs such as rides to prenatal appointments, and participating in financial planning during the pregnancy and for the baby’s ongoing needs.

Real Alternatives Serves Women in Indiana

Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives provides women with pregnancy support, as well as a diverse range of reproductive health services, information about adoption, and parenting assistance. Several states, including Indiana, have entered into contracts with Real Alternatives to fund centers that provide these services.

In 2015, then-governor Mike Pence declared that Indiana would support Real Alternatives in establishing 16 women's health centers to provide counseling for issues ranging from emotional and physical abuse to breastfeeding and child care. The contract, which stipulated $2.25 million in funding from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, ensured that thousands of women would receive counseling and support throughout their pregnancies and for the first year of their children's lives.

Prior to the announcement of the contract, the organization had already completed a year-long trial program in the state. During that time, it assisted more than 8,400 individuals at a cost of only $1 million to the Indiana State Department of Health, helping those feeling hopeless to find healing and support.

Babies in the Womb Respond to the Outside World

Since the 1990s, Pennsylvania-based Real Alternatives has served as a resource for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies. The nonprofit, now a government social service partner provider in three states, offers free counseling sessions, referrals for adoption, and a full year of support for mothers who choose to raise their babies. Due to Real Alternatives’ compassionate, caring approach, women have learned that they are not alone as they struggle against pressures to abort their babies.

Research has shown the extraordinary responsiveness of unborn babies to outside stimuli, and even to their mothers’ moods. These developing human beings are far from passive inhabitants of the womb.

As soon as the eighth week after conception, a baby has developed a sense of touch. Ultrasounds have shown that by 11 weeks, many unborn babies have begun to explore their own worlds by putting a hand to their mouths, or even by “walking” up the inside of the amniotic sac.

Unborn babies also display definite reactions to their mothers’ movements, often turning over in the womb, or striking back with an arm, in response to a touch from outside.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that emotion-triggered chemicals released into a mother’s bloodstream are transmitted to her unborn baby. Ultrasounds have also shown that when their mothers laugh, babies in the womb may respond with enthusiastic bouncing movements, and when their mothers are sad, they tend to become more quiescent.

How Ultrasound Technology Has Transformed Discussions of Abortion

A nonprofit organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives has helped hundreds of thousands of women through a compassionate approach that makes it easier to choose life over abortion. Now an official partner with government social services agencies in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, Real Alternatives also offers extensive information on the development of babies in utero as a resource for women contemplating abortion.

Ultrasounds, now a staple of prenatal medical care, provide detailed views of the development of an unborn child. In fact, the precision of ultrasound technology played a significant role in increasing public support for the pro-life viewpoint, as it enabled a new generation to see that unborn babies possess the physical characteristics of full human beings. As such, science has transformed the public conversation about abortion.

For example, in its 1973 decision on abortion, the US Supreme Court relied on then-current medical thinking that an unborn child stood a chance of achieving viability outside the womb at 28 weeks. Today’s advances have moved that figure closer to only 22 weeks.

A range of recent surveys show the influence of ultrasound technology on the public’s views on abortion. One of these, produced by the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, reported that almost 80 percent of women surveyed chose to have their babies after viewing an ultrasound photograph of their child in the womb.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Are on the Rise

Real Alternatives serves women in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan through a network of crisis pregnancy centers that provide free counseling, adoption information and referrals, and ongoing material support for the first year of a baby’s life. In addition, the nonprofit offers resources on sexual health, including how to identify and prevent sexually transmitted diseases. 

The number of people affected by sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, has risen in recent years. The National Institutes of Health has differentiated some two dozen STDs to date and estimates that they infect close to 20 million people annually.

Individuals of any age or social background can contract STDs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young adults between 15 and 24 years of age, as well as pregnant women, are among the groups most at risk for common STDs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. Many women do not know they have contracted an STD, because they may remain symptom-free, yet the complications women experience are typically more severe than those experienced by men.

A major reason for the increase in the number of STD cases is that sexually active individuals today often have a greater number of partners over their lifetime. The CDC points out that the most effective means of avoiding STDs are abstention from sharing needles and abstention from sex outside of a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship.

Real Alternatives Supports Pregnant Women and Lowers Medical Costs

Pregnancy centers can be a lifeline for women who feel pressured to have abortions. When a woman calls or visits a pregnancy center, she will find trained, compassionate counselors on hand who will talk with her about her emotions and circumstances and assist her throughout her pregnancy.

Real Alternatives administers pregnancy support and parenting programs at more than 135+ pregnancy support centers, social service agencies and maternity homes in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan. At these centers, caring counselors provide individual support for clients, who also receive everything from maternity clothes to day-care referrals depending on their needs.

The state’s investment in Real Alternatives has paid off. The program saves the state money in medical and societal costs, as women under the care of these centers are more likely to get regular prenatal care and have a decreased risk of low-birth-weight babies. Clients also are more likely to vaccinate their children on schedule. 

As a result, many states are modeling outreach programs after those of pregnancy support centers that partner with Real Alternatives. That means more women are receiving support and counseling during their pregnancies and for up to a year after the child is born.

Advice for Women Pressured to Have an Abortion

Real Alternatives has assisted upward of 300,000 women with crisis pregnancy services. The Pennsylvania-based nonprofit partners with government social service agencies in three states to deliver the help that can make all the difference in a woman’s choice to keep her baby.

Real Alternatives wants to be sure this message goes out to women in crisis: It is against the law to force any woman to undergo an abortion. No one, not the baby’s father, and not even her own parents if she is a minor, can make that decision for her. No doctor is permitted to perform an abortion without the individual woman’s informed consent; to do so means risking loss of his or her medical license.

Women unwilling to go through with an abortion should tell every staff member that they have not agreed to the procedure. If a physician attempts to perform the procedure, the woman - even if she is not yet 18 - has the right to say no. She can additionally tell the physician that she intends to file a lawsuit should she be forced into an abortion.

Trained, empathetic counselors are available at 1-888-LIFE-AID at any time of the day or night, to help women understand their rights and options, and to connect them with financial and social service support.

Pregnancy Support Centers Dedicated to Helping Women

Committed to helping women to find life-affirming alternatives to abortion, Real Alternatives possesses a network of pregnancy support centers designed to help women during and after their pregnancies. Real Alternatives' experienced counselors provide new and expectant mothers with kind and compassionate care.

At the centers, women have access to parenting, pregnancy, and childbirth classes. Providing confidential counseling and mentoring services, Real Alternatives furnishes mothers with vital items such as food, furniture, and baby and maternity clothing. Moreover, the counselors supply adoption information and encourage women to obtain well baby and prenatal check-ups during and after their pregnancies. The counselors also help mothers to make career and educational decisions. 

Offering women access to free pregnancy self-test kits and assistance in locating temporary shelter, the pregnancy support centers also give referrals to community agencies.

A nonprofit organization, Real Alternatives operates a network of 144 centers in Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. For more information, call 1-888-LIFE-AID.

An Overview of HPV Statistics in America

Real Alternatives is a not-for-profit health organization that provides women with a variety of services and support during unexpected and crises pregnancies. Real Alternatives also offers a wealth of information regarding related health topics, including sexually transmitted diseases. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 110 million Americans are living with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), at a cost of more than $16 billion annually. Studies have found that of the 20 million newly-reported cases of STDs every year, over 14 million are linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. 

Nearly 80 million individuals of all ages in the United States live with HPV. The infection is incurable, though some symptoms can be managed with medical treatments. In many instances, HPV is passed between partners, and it can remain dormant for years without active symptoms. Some strains of HPV can cause genital warts or even cancer. 

There are a number of ways to mitigate one's chances of contracting HPV. Individuals are advised to get the HPV vaccine, which helps protect against the most common strain but not all of the strains. Practicing safe sex can lower the chance of contracting HPV or other STDs. However, living a chaste lifestyle (abstinence) until committing to a long-term monogamous relationship is the best and the most effective means of risk reduction.

Real Testimonies from Real Alternatives Clients

Real Alternatives provides support and information to women from all walks of life who have been impacted by an unplanned pregnancy. The Real Alternatives website, www.realalternatives.org, features a number of stories from clients who have benefited from the support of the organization. 

The stories come from a host of women of different ages and backgrounds, a testament to the organization’s desire to provide help to any individual who seeks it. Certain accounts highlight the organization’s all-inclusive attitude in regard to age, as opposed to similar agencies that focus solely on helping younger women dealing with unexpected pregnancies. 

Other women have pointed to a lack of support upon learning about their pregnancy, including disapproval from family and friends and pressure to abort, or complete indifference from their partner. The informed support and welcoming approach of the Real Alternatives team, along with a number of approved service providers, helped these women to identify different ways to address their situation.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Reach Record High in US

Real Alternatives provides easy-to-understand education surrounding pregnancy, parenting, and sexual health. Targeting its services to pregnant women and women of childbearing age, Real Alternatives strives to help its audiences make informed decisions.

According to recent data available through the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance Report, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis has reached a record high in the United States. Chlamydia stands out as the most prevalent of these three diseases, the total number of cases having reached 1.6 million, as compared to 470,000 cases of gonorrhea and close to 28,000 cases of infectious syphilis. 

Close to 50 percent of reported chlamydia cases occur in young women, a percentage significantly higher than the incidence rate in other populations. New diagnoses of syphilis are present primarily in men, the percentage being highest in men who engage in sex with other men (MSM). There were also 600 new cases of syphilis reported in infants in 2016, a rate that indicates the widespread failure of readily available screening procedures.

The most dramatic increase in gonorrhea infection also rests with the male population, and particularly with those in the MSM category. Scientists believe that the 22 percent increase in men with gonorrhea is attributable largely to the resistance of the infection to common antibiotics.

Then-Governor Mike Pence’s Support of Indiana’s Real Alternatives

Offering pregnancy support services that are confidential, caring, and free, Real Alternatives maintains a presence spanning states from Pennsylvania to Michigan. Under then-Governor Mike Pence, Indiana announced in late 2015 that it would leverage the momentum of a successful pilot program in implementing a statewide $3.5 million expansion of Real Alternatives.

Regarding the long-term impact he hoped to achieve through this backing, Governor Pence spoke of wanting see more women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy receive needed assistance, support, and education. Responding to criticism from some corners that Real Alternatives does not counsel or advocate for abortion, he noted that under Indiana law, “childbirth is preferred, encouraged, and supported over abortion” (IC 16-34-1-1). He described the provided services as being both legal and in sync with a pro-life worldview that defines Hoosier values.

Mike Pence also commended the nonprofit orientation of Real Alternatives, such that any participating service provider cannot charge money for services rendered. This he saw as essential in ensuring that all Indiana residents would be able to access the state-funded program with ease.