Josie was pressured to abort her wanted baby: ‘I just caved in to all that fear’

A woman in the UK is sharing her story of abortion pill-related trauma in an interview with the pro-life group Society for the Protection of the Unborn.

As use of the abortion pill is becoming more widespread, women who have taken it are sharing the physical and emotional trauma they endured in hopes of preventing other women and babies from the same fate.

Key Takeaways:

• Josie James from the UK took the abortion pill following immense pressure from her boyfriend and his parents.

• She suffered through “traumatizing” physical and emotional effects of the abortion in her bathroom alone.

• James is now urging women to choose life.

The Details:

Catherine with Society for the Protection of the Unborn recently interviewed Josie James, a UK mom who took the abortion pill nine years ago at the age of 21.

“That was just so traumatizing. Nothing could have prepared me for it,” James said of her chemical abortion. “Even nine years later, [the abortion is] still a big part of my life, [and I] still think about it every day. And so I’d love to just encourage other people and try and help them to keep their unplanned pregnancy because I really found that it stuck with me for life, and so my goal is just to share that… there can be hope.”

When asked what she would say to a young woman unexpectedly pregnant, James said:

I would say, like, I’m 30 now and I’m still scared, I’m still worrying about finances… not sure, and not guaranteed, and, you know, there’s all these questions in mind and I think there is no right time and there is no perfect time to say, “Right, I’m ready to have this baby.”

I honestly don’t know if I would have been ready in two years’ time. There’s always an excuse to say, “Hmm, maybe I should focus on my career or maybe I should… have a big house first or maybe…” Whatever is in the question, the baby is in your belly now and that baby doesn’t just leave your memory after that abortion…

It stays with you, and every baby you will see, like, for me, any baby I would see, any child I would see… I would just wish that I would have allowed my baby to come to full term and to be able to go to school and to grow up like all the other children that you see around you….

I would say, just face those fears because it’s so much better to face those fears and have an amazing little human grow up, and watching them grow up, I think, is so special, instead of thinking of, “What if? What if I’d kept that baby? What if?” You know, and you don’t have to become bitter because everyone around you is having children and you’re left there with just an abortion and it’s just a horrible feeling.

The Backstory:

At 21, James learned she was unexpectedly pregnant, and her boyfriend’s first reaction to the news was, “That’s fine. We can get an abortion.”

She was startled. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, why is that the first option? Why have you jumped to that?'” she said. “I was really excited. I felt really happy… And I thought, you know, this is amazing, this is beautiful, this is life,” she said.

But her boyfriend’s parents joined him in pressuring her to have the abortion. Unfortunately, she was only offered some encouragement from friends, but no support, and she didn’t know where to find it. Her boyfriend told her that if she had the baby, she would be a single mom, promising to stay with her only if she aborted their child.

Mistakenly, she thought that her “world would crumble without him.” 

The pain of abortion | Heartbeat

“Ultimately, even though I wanted that baby, I wanted to keep it, and I really loved and cherished that baby, I just caved into all that fear that he was kind of feeding me,” James said.

James and her boyfriend went to an abortion facility to buy the abortion pill regimen, which includes two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone deprives the baby of nutrients and misoprostol causes contractions to expel the baby. After taking the misoprostol, James went through the abortion process in her bathroom, alone.

“That was just so traumatizing. Nothing could have prepared me for it. I threw up. I was literally laying on my bathroom floor, just in agony, because it does the contractions. And I just remember thinking like, ‘This is such a mess,'” she said.

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James realized how vulnerable she was, going through a medical event without any health care support.

“And then you’re kind of like, ‘No one’s here to look after me. I’m just laying on a bathroom floor, like, going through the most traumatic experience of my life on my own,” she said. “And it’s really something where there should be medical professionals checking up on you…. I was on my own; anything could have happened.”

Distraught, James tried to find her baby among the blood clots.

“I just remember crying after. And it sounds really sad and maybe a bit disturbing… I just remember looking maybe in the blood clots that were coming out and actually trying to see my baby because I had emotional attachment,” she recalled.

After the abortion, James felt “sad and empty” and was envious of the women around her who were pregnant.

There was “a lot of bitterness and awkwardness” between her and her boyfriend. Their relationship ended a few months later, and she knew she needed healing. She eventually found it in Jesus Christ, with the help of a Christian organization that offered prayer ministry.

The Bottom Line:

James now encourages women to choose life, despite fear. Fear is a natural part of any pregnancy, whether planned or unplanned, James said. James is now married and pregnant.

“I can say… fear is a huge, huge part of pregnancy…. I think fear can really overtake you when you’re pregnant, whether you’re expecting it or not. Whether it’s a planned pregnancy or not. I just want to let people know I think even when it is a planned pregnancy, it can also be just as scary, and I think it’s really important to just face those fears head-on and say, ‘I’m having this baby no matter what.’”

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