A pro-life charity has criticised the YouTube video of a US counsellor having a surgical abortion, saying it should “never be taken lightly”.
Emily Letts, 25, explained that her decision to have her abortion filmed at the clinic where she worked in New Jersey was to show “it wasn’t scary – and that there is such a thing as a positive abortion story”.
But pro-life groups have raised concerns about the video – a spokesperson from the charity LIFE said that many women experience “regret, anxiety and depression” following abortions.
Serious
“Abortion is a serious procedure which ends the life of an unborn child. It should never be taken lightly.”
“Instead of normalising, we should be encouraging women to look more closely at abortion and what it involves – including the long tem effects”, the spokesperson added.
LIFE also said: “If the video focused on the actual abortion process then the procedure would have shocked viewers.”
Contraception
Writing for Cosmopolitan magazine, Letts explains how she had been working at the abortion clinic for a year when she “wound up” pregnant – she had not been using any form of contraception, and “didn’t have any long-term partners”.
On the YouTube video, Letts tells the camera: “I’m not ready to have children. Yeah, I’m going to be having an abortion tomorrow morning”.
She is then filmed in the clinic having the abortion, during which the camera focuses on her head and the top half of the body – she is seen breathing heavily and humming.
Regret
Earlier this year, three women who regret having an abortion were interviewed by the Daily Mail.
Evelyn Rei, Amanda Brawn and Andrea Gilbertson recalled the moments leading up to their abortions and the feelings of sorrow and bereavement they experienced.
Rei, who had an abortion almost ten years ago, says she has “pangs of regret”.
Bereft
Brawn, who had two abortions 15 years apart, said: “I had no idea how bereft and guilty I’d feel”.
And Gilbertson had an abortion when she was 27 and says she will “never forget” her traumatic experience after taking an abortion pill.