What It's Like To Go Through An Abortion
CLEO Singapore|October 2018

What happens if you find yourself pregnant-before you're ready? How do you deal with it, emotionally and physically? Three women open up about how they handeled an unwanted pregnancy

Sophie Hong
What It's Like To Go Through An Abortion

Jane*, now 29, had an abortion when she was 20 years old.

I was pregnant at 20. The father was my then boyfriend, and we had been dating for about 6 months. He assured me we’d go through this together, but the next thing I knew, he had left for another country. He completely disappeared on me.

I couldn’t tell my mum about it, so I hid the pregnancy from her. I was so scared of being labelled a slut that I didn’t even dare to tell my friends.

I went to a polyclinic first for a consultation, and then I had to go through mandated counselling. I was told that I could keep the baby, and put it up for adoption later. But that’s not what I wanted. I was then referred to a public hospital, so I could use Medisave to cover the cost.

That’s where they did an ultrasound and let me listen to the heartbeat of the fetus. This was such a bad experience for me, because I felt guilt-tripped. I was told by the staff that I was lucky to be able to conceive, and that there are women out there [who want to have children but are] dealing with fertility issues. It made me feel like I was throwing a baby away. Again, I was told that adoption was an option. I broke down so badly after.

I found out about my pregnancy three weeks in, but by the time of the abortion appointment, I was more than two months pregnant.

I was admitted for two nights. To hide it from my family, I told them I was on a work trip. The doctor inserted a pill into my vagina, and I started having cramps and diarrhoea.

On the second night, I began having painful contractions. I called for the nurse, who drew the curtains around my bed and told me to push.

Hearing that further aggravated my trauma. The doctor even asked if I wanted to keep the remains of the baby for burial or cremation.

Denne historien er fra October 2018-utgaven av CLEO Singapore.

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Denne historien er fra October 2018-utgaven av CLEO Singapore.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

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