Get informed : Pregnancy
questions about pregnancy
Are you pregnant?
Making sure you're pregnant
Undergo a medical test
How does it work?
You urinate into a sterile container and a health professional analyzes it.
Advantages:
- Reliability: Results are generally more reliable than a home pregnancy test (the reliability rate is 99%).
- Low cost: You can get a free test at your CLSC if you’re 18 years old or younger, and it only costs a few dollars if you’re over 18.
- Support: You won’t be alone when you learn the results.
Home tests
Where can you get one?
You can buy a home pregnancy test at any drugstore, or get one from a health professional, like your school nurse.
How does it work?
In most cases, all you need to do is apply a few drops of urine to the applicator and wait a few minutes for the results. It's recommended to use your first urine of the day, because it has a higher concentration of pregnancy hormones.
Advantages:
- Discretion: Home tests are available at the drugstore without a prescription or medical appointment.
- Speed: Home tests only take a few minutes.
Disadvantages:
- Cost: $7-25 depending on the test.
- Reliability: A negative result only means that the test didn’t detect a high enough concentration of pregnancy hormones in your urine, but this isn’t a guarantee that you’re not pregnant.
- Support: You may not be ready to cope with a positive result on your own! Is it important for you to have someone with you when you find out the test results?
Consulting a doctor
It’s always a good idea to consult a health professional to make sure everything in your body is working correctly.
You should therefore consult a doctor if:
- The test is negative but you still haven’t got your period
- The test is positive and you want to make sure everything will go smoothly for the rest of your pregnancy
- You want to know how many weeks you’ve been pregnant
- You’re considering abortion