A woman who shared her “first at-home abortion” with viewers recently on TikTok has been receiving both criticism and praise. Yet the more than three million people who watched her initial video about her abortion experience never got to see the full truth.
The abortion pill involves two drugs; the first is mifepristone, which counteracts the naturally-occurring pregnancy hormone progesterone. Without progesterone, the developing child will be deprived of nutrients and die. But even if mifepristone doesn’t cause the child’s death, the second drug, misoprostol, will cause contractions that will expel the baby.
Abortion on TikTok
Monica, or @monicathehuman, shared the process of undergoing a chemical abortion in her TikTok video. She showed the steps given to her by Planned Parenthood, and explained that she took mifepristone while still at the abortion facility. She took ibuprofen and anti-nausea meds, and went on to show herself taking misoprostol, the second drug of the abortion pill regimen. She told viewers that she experienced pain throughout the night — though she never showed viewers that part of the experience. She also didn’t show the remains of the baby she passed, though it is unclear how far along she was in her pregnancy.
In a separate video, Monica updated viewers regarding her follow-up appointment to ensure the “debris” had left her womb. Again, there was no discussion about her baby’s body.
Monica’s abortion pill trauma story
But a different Monica also shared her at-home abortion pill story in a different way. Instead of glossing over the pain, Monica explained that she hurt so badly she was balled up on her bed, begging her boyfriend to turn on the bath for her. She climbed into the tub with her shirt and underwear still on. It was then that she felt a release of pressure.
She screamed.
“The fetus was — it was floating in the water. It was slightly smaller than the palm of my hand. And the fetus had a head, hands, and legs, defined fingers and toes. I leapt from the bath and collapsed in my boyfriend’s arms,” she explained.
Monica’s story shows that there is a second person involved in every abortion, whether we want to admit it or not.
Not the only one
This second Monica is not the only woman who has shared an abortion pill trauma story that completely contradicts the simplified abortion story that three million people watched on TikTok. Kirsty, Salome, Leslie, Christina, Natalia, Elizabeth, and Tami all shared their distressing stories, which can be watched on the I Saw My Baby website.
Leslie called her experience “incredibly terrifying, isolating, and painful.” She said, “It should not be downplayed as similar to a heavy period or an early miscarriage. I’ve had both. The chemical abortion was a violent, unnatural pain.”
Salome said, “I saw the most heartbreaking thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I saw my child… It was the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever created. And I destroyed it.”
Elizabeth shared that she saw the entire pregnancy sac after taking the abortion pill, and inside “I could still see the baby… I just kinda sat there and held it. Of course, I was crying.”
Hiding the body
The bodies of children who have been aborted are kept hidden from the eyes of compassionate Americans, many of whom still believe that during the first trimester, a preborn child is little more than an unformed clump of cells. According to the Endowment for Human Development, at just two weeks and four days, the brain first appears — and at three weeks and one day post-fertilization, the heart has begun to beat. The circulatory system is the first body system to function, allowing the embryo to continue to grow.
Six weeks from fertilization. Eight weeks LMP.
Hiding the risks
Monica’s pro-abortion video also failed to show the risks that women face when they take the abortion pill. More than one study has found the abortion pill to be four times more dangerous than a first-trimester surgical abortion.
In addition, a Gynuity Health Projects study found that six percent of women who took the abortion pill faced complications that resulted in emergency room or urgent care visits. In that study, there were 10 serious adverse events, eight hospitalizations, and five transfusions. Just over four percent of women required surgical interventions — generally due to incomplete or failed abortions — and nearly eight percent required outpatient visits following their abortions.
This data mirrors that of another study, where it was found that nearly six percent of women who took the abortion pill in the United Kingdom between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2021, were treated for complications. A 2020 report from MSI Australia, which commits abortions, also revealed an overall complication rate of 6.37% for women who took the abortion pill that year.
However, another study suggests that the actual complication rate is much higher than six percent in part, because some women are instructed by the abortion facility to lie to hospital staff and tell them they are miscarrying, not that they had a chemical abortion.
In her pro-abortion TikTok video, Monica #1 told pro-lifers that her abortion doesn’t affect them and has nothing to do with them. But the truth is that abortion does affect all of us in the same way that any injustice affects all of us. When innocent lives are taken, all of society is affected, and decisions are often made in order to better protect innocent people in the future. With abortion, at least one person is intentionally killed, and another is often left traumatized by the experience.
Women and their children deserve better and they deserve to be protected.
