Hurting after abortion - Woman endures six years of nightmare

After reading the cover story in The STAR yesterday, Mary Jane* contacted this newspaper to share her story about the impact Cytotec has had on her.

Jane said she was forced to swallow the tablets by her boyfriend six years ago. He also ensured that she inserted the Cytotec tablets in her vagina.

In the cover story published yesterday, Kadian Brown*, who sells the tablets to persons who are seeking to have an abortion, said that two Cytotec tablets are ingested and three inserted in the vagina.

Jane told The STAR that she was a side chick in the life of a businessman and was enjoying the perks that came with the relationship.

"Him move me out a the hut whe me did live in a down a one inner-city and put me in a one nice apartment. Next ting, me know me a drive car and bare tings so me did too excited when me find out me pregnant and me gladly tell him but me did in fi a shock," she said.

"Him black bad but me could a see every blood drain out a him. After him process whe me say him just stare at me blankly and say me have to get rid a it because him no want no bastard child," she added.

GOD A BEAT ME

Cytotec is normally used to treat ulcers but is being used by persons to abort pregnancies. Jane said she used the pills six years ago and now she is unable to get pregnant.

"Me believe God a beat me fi all a wah happen. Me try everything me can just to get pregnant again and it just nah happen. Me go all type a doctor but nothing nah work. Me even take fertility pills and is like the baby dem just drop out a me after me reach couple months," Jane said.

She told The STAR that nearly a year after she did the abortion she was told by doctors that foetal tissues were left in her womb. That lead to an infection and is thought to be the reason she has not been able to bear a child.

She recalled the evening when her life took a turn for the worst. According to Jane, the man took her to a secluded spot in the Corporate Area one night, and asked her if she has decided to abort the child.

"Me say no and next ting me know the man transform pon me and start squeeze me throat. When him finally let me go, him tell me say me nah go mash up him marriage and threaten to throw me off a precipice," she said.

Jane said the man then showed her the tablets and told her that she needed to swallow at least four of them.

"When me refused him drag me close to the precipice and tell me him a go push me off, so me swallow dem fast. When me go in the car him push up three inside me and him drive me home in silence," she said.

MOST AGONISING

She stated that her partner decided to spend the night with her to ensure that she did not seek medical help and described the pain as the most agonising ever.

"It felt as if my belly was being ripped out. I then began passing out a lot of clots and couple hours after me feel a pressure and something huge coming out and there it happened. My baby was born dead. I was close to three months," she said.

Jane said she bled for weeks but didn't seek medical help because she was too embarrassed to explain what had actually happened.

"The man left me after and me move back in with me mother. The bleeding eventually stopped but I got lots of infections. Me still never go doctor until about a year later, and that's when me hear say me can't have kids," she said.

"Even before me find out say me nah go get pregnant again, me cry day in and out. More time me see people wid dem baby, me wonder how mine would look," she said.

* name changed