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To learn more about the potential psychological impact of abortion, read "Post-Abortion Syndrome." If you're looking for "positive" abortion stories, read this.

"I was 19 years old and in love. In my mind, he was my soulmate. I got pregnant and when I told him, he said he didn't remember ejaculating. At that moment I knew that even If I decided not to do the abortion, I'd be a single parent, which I couldn't handle..."

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Age: 20
Location: Johannesburg
Date: February 24, 2024

"I am a 16 year old girl. Words cannot describe the pain I went through as I did the abortion. I never wanted to do the abortion, but I was coerced into doing it by my ex-boyfriend who afterwards turned his back on me, disgusted that I killed his baby. I wanted to keep my baby, even though I knew it would've broken my mother's heart. To anyone who reads this, don't be coerced into doing something…"

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Age: 16
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Date: December 3, 2022

"For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mother. And I was completely against abortion—and then it happened. My boyfriend and I were deeply in love and didn’t go a day without each other. Then I found out I was pregnant. I told him about it and his immediate reaction was “abortion”—without a doubt, without a second thought. I was so in love and so smitten that I didn’t…"

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Age: 22
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Date: July 22, 2020

"I was 20 when I discovered that I was pregnant. I thought I had a bad stomach bug and doctors couldn't really tell what was wrong with me. In the end, I was told that it was because I was pregnant. I was five weeks. I didn't know what to do. It was heartbreaking; my parents were definitely going to kill me, especially my father. My boyfriend was scared. There were so many odds against me having…"

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Age: 22
Location: South Africa
Date: April 23, 2017

"This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do—being brutally honest and speaking about my journey with abortion is something I never thought I could do. I don't think any woman in this world is as disgusting and vile as I am because you see I didn't have one abortion, I had THREE! I was 16 years old. I had always been slow when it came to boys. All my friends had been on dates, kissed boys,…"

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Age: 32
Location: South Africa
Date: January 20, 2017

"I was 14 years old when I did my abortion. The father, my boyfriend at the time, was 13 years older than me and was from another country. And my mum was gonna kill me if she found out. Being her only daughter, I was scared to disappoint her. The shame I would bring to my family and friends. Well here's my story. We had unprotected sex on the first day we met, and I was on my period. We had sex…"

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Age: 15
Location: Mpumalanga, South Africa
Date: August 7, 2016

"I was in secondary school and my boyfriend was also at secondary. I got pregnant. My boyfriend was happy about the pregnancy, but I was scared and confused. Then I told my mom, and she forced me into an abortion. I did it because I didn’t have a choice, but I regret it every day. And I will regret it until I die."

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Age: 24
Location: South Africa
Date: July 17, 2016

"I was only 17 and slept with a guy who promised me lies. I got pregnant. I wanted to keep the child, but he said it wasn’t his child and my parents a very strict. I thought the only option was abortion. I aborted but what hurts is that I can't forget that I killed my own child. I realised that I loved that baby, but it was too late."

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Age: 20
Location: South Africa
Date: July 2, 2016

"It's kind of long story. It all started when I got raped last year by a person whom I knew very well. I decided not to tell my family because I felt that their asking questions and taking legal action was going to prolong the situation mentally while I just needed to forget everything. Luckily I was still HIV negative and not pregnant. Then in late April of this year, while still 18-years-old,…"

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Age: 19
Location: South Africa
Date: June 29, 2016

"I did my abortion on 31 May. The doctor inserted three pills into my vagina and I took one under my tongue. I was then sent home. He said I should drink a lot of strong tea when I get home, After four hours, it would be over. I was three months. I waited, drinking tea. Six hours passed. Nothing. I felt cramps. I called the doctor and he told me that I must come back in. After he called, the water…"

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Age: 24
Location: Johannersburg
Date: June 9, 2016

"This happened about three years ago. I had met him a few months before, and he seemed like a perfect gentleman. Little did I know. I remember how the first time we did the deed he asked we make a pinky promise that we wouldn’t fall pregnant, not anytime soon. Little did I know that on that day, we actually made a baby. I missed my period, which confused me because I was on the pill. I guess…"

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Age: 23
Location: South Africa
Date: January 29, 2016

"I was and still am in a loving relationship with a man four years older than I am. I fell pregnant three months into our relationship. At first I didn't believe it—until my belly started forming a rounder shape. I didn't tell the father I was pregnant because he's such a good person that he would have encouraged me to keep our baby. We are both young and still staying with our parents.…"

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Age: 16
Location: South Africa
Date: December 1, 2015

"Today marks two years after my abortion, and it still hurts having to talk about it—especially because my family doesn't know about it. And my friends? Well, they don't understand what I feel. I was 19 and at law school when I got pregnant. My parents are strict, and I was afraid of what my parents would say or do to me for being such a disgrace. I remember feeling I was pregnant. I told…"

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Age: 21
Location: South Africa
Date: September 4, 2015

"This is hard. I've only spoken about this once in my entire life. Here it goes. I was 14 when I fell pregnant. My boyfriend and I had been dating for four months when I woke up one morning feeling nauseous, I thought that I was probably just ill, and I never took it seriously. Two weeks or so past and each morning I felt sick. I started feeling sick in the evenings as well, and I knew that something…"

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Age: 18
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Date: July 16, 2015

"I was sick for days. I was fighting with my boyfriend every day because of issues we were having. I wanted to give up, but I told myself I loved him and indeed I do. I was late, but I thought since I had previously taken the pilI I would be late. Then I started having spots, feeling sick—nauseated and all. I realized something was wrong. I was spotting, but I thought it would eventually…"

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Age: 26
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
Date: June 30, 2015