Certain issues make pregnancies and family planning challenging. The Penn Medicine Pregnancy Early Access Center (PEACE) helps you manage these challenges.
About the Penn Medicine Pregnancy Early Access Center (PEACE)
The PEACE care team has special expertise in contraceptive care, abortion care and pregnancy loss care. We offer compassionate, expert support for women experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth or pregnancy complications.
We also offer contraceptive and family planning services for women who have complex family planning needs.
Listen: Courtney Schreiber, MD, MPH, Director of PEACE, talks about building trust, listening and learning from patients to provide equitable care
What Is Pregnancy Loss?
An estimated one in 15 women experience pregnancy loss. Miscarriage refers to pregnancy loss before the 20th week of pregnancy. A stillbirth occurs after the 20th week.
A nonviable pregnancy is another type of pregnancy loss. Sometimes, continuing a pregnancy jeopardizes a woman’s life. Other times, tests show that an unborn baby won’t survive outside of the womb. We offer solutions and compassionate care for women experiencing these difficulties.
Our Services
We partner with your OB-GYN and other specialists to offer these services:
Birth control and family planning
Finding the right birth control, and accessing it, can be a challenge for some women. We make it easier for you to get the contraceptive care you need. Our services include:
- Consultations for complex needs: Pregnancy may be too dangerous for some women, such as those with multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis. But certain forms of birth control can also cause health problems. We offer expert guidance to safe, effective contraceptives that won’t endanger your health.
- Discreet care: We understand that there are times when you need to keep contraceptive use private. Or perhaps you can’t get to the drugstore regularly to pick up birth control. We offer long-acting, reversible contraception, such as IUDs and implants. After insertion, you don’t have to think about birth control for several years.
- Expert implant and IUD removal: OB-GYNs routinely take out IUDs or birth control implants. But occasionally, these contraceptives are more challenging to remove. OB-GYNs from across the region send difficult removal cases to us.
- Emergency contraception: If you’re at risk for an unintended pregnancy, we can prescribe medications or insert a copper IUD (Paragard®). These emergency contraceptives interfere with conception.
- Permanent birth control: We perform tubal ligations for women who don’t want children or don’t plan to have more children. This surgical procedure cuts or closes the fallopian tubes to prevent conception. A tubal ligation is a permanent form of birth control.
Early pregnancy care
It can take several weeks to see an OB-GYN after an at-home pregnancy test shows that you’re expecting. To bridge this gap in care, we offer:
- Diagnostic tests: Some bleeding or cramping early in a pregnancy isn’t always cause for concern. We perform ultrasounds to rule out problems. Tests also help us diagnose miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies (pregnancy that occurs outside of the uterus). If there’s a problem, we can help with the next steps.
- Pregnancy counseling: If you’re uncertain about the pregnancy, we help you think through your options. We can connect you with adoption agencies. We also perform procedures to terminate a pregnancy (abortion).
- Prenatal care plan: We perform your first prenatal checkup, including a pelvic exam. This exam helps us detect problems like high blood pressure early. We also start you on prenatal vitamins and discuss lifestyle changes to promote a healthy pregnancy.
Care for pregnancy loss
Pregnancy loss is difficult, regardless of the reason. When possible, we provide all pregnancy loss services — from diagnostics to treatment to contraceptives — in one visit. You can start the healing process sooner.
For women experiencing a miscarriage, nonviable pregnancy or pregnancy termination, we offer:
- Nonsurgical miscarriage management: You may choose to let your body end the pregnancy naturally or with the aid of medication. We monitor your health throughout the process.
- Surgical miscarriage management: We perform a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to complete the miscarriage. We can do this procedure the same day as the diagnosis in our center, so you don’t have to wait. For complex situations, we perform D&Cs in the operating room while you are under anesthesia.
- Contraceptive counseling: After a pregnancy loss, you need time to heal emotionally and physically. We can get you started immediately on birth control.
- Abortion services: We offer compassionate care for all women who need to end their pregnancies. We’re experts in treating women who have medical conditions that make abortions complicated. Previous multiple cesarean sections, obesity or health problems can make an outpatient termination procedure too risky. We work with obstetric anesthesiologists to ensure a safe procedure.
- Research-based care: We base your care on the latest research. Findings from our 2018 study on medication management of miscarriages led to changes in national care guidelines. Learn more about studies taking place at our Women’s Health Clinical Research Center.
- Emotional support: We’re here for you through this difficult time. You may choose to talk to our nurse, who has social work experience. Or we can connect you with a behavioral health specialist.
Request an Appointment
To request an appointment, please call 800-789-7366 or complete our online form.