A young Argentinian woman recently shared that she had a secret, illegal abortion because she did not want to be a mother.
The young woman’s story and photo, published last week as part of the online photography project Humans of New York, was a heartbreaking glimpse of what the young woman experienced when she chose to abort her unborn child. The project shared her story anonymously, and the photo only showed the woman’s legs and hands as she sat in the grass, smoking a cigarette.
“I didn’t want to be a mother. I was eighteen. We weren’t in love,” the young woman said. “I had goals I wanted to accomplish. So I made the hardest decision of my life.”
Abortion is illegal in Argentina and many other South American countries. These countries recognize that babies in the womb are valuable human beings whose right to life should be protected.
The young woman said she researched abortion on the internet and found a way to do it at home without her parents’ knowledge.
“If things had gone wrong, I could have died,” she said. “Seeing it come out of me was the worst moment of my life. And I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even my parents. So I carried the secret with me. I felt like this thing was always in my chest, but it was stuck there. All day I’d act normal. Then at night I’d go to my room and cry.”
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Argentinian President Mauricio Macri told BuzzFeed News in August that ‘denying women the right to have an abortion, is not gender violence.’
‘Clandestine abortion is a dramatic issue,’ he added. ‘No woman under any circumstances must go through an abortion. It is a terrible experience before, during and after.’
Some pro-lifers who commented on Humans of New York’s post tried to reach out to the woman by sharing information about post-abortion healing programs like Rachel’s Vineyard. They assured her that, though aborting her unborn child was wrong, she can heal and learn to forgive herself.
One pro-lifer commented on Facebook that she wished the young woman had received more support for herself and her unborn child.
“We may not agree on this heated subject, but I hope you hear my loving and caring heart,” the pro-lifer commented. “Hopefully healing and peace have come to you.”
