YOUR STORIES

This is a space for people to tell their experiences with health providers in New Zealand concerning abortion and contraception. If you would like to share your experience, please contact us here.

Kate Speaks

Kate Speaks

My name is Kate.* My request for an abortion was denied by the Waitematā District Health Board, you may have read my story here, and here. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew that I was in no place to raise a child financially, physically or emotionally. I simply...

Abortion, Godde talk and spiritual development

Abortion, Godde talk and spiritual development

Many thanks to Sanda Ramage for allowing us to cross-post from her blog. by Sande Ramage Pregnant, yet deep within I knew I couldn’t give this baby life. The decision was made to abort and back then, over 30 years ago, I was unaware of how this experience would...

Fundamentalist family and not much support

My story starts when I was twenty-one… or maybe that’s when it ended, depending on your point of view. I grew up extremely religious in the fundamentalist Christian church. Both my parents were preachers, and all their parents were preachers too. My mother was even a...

Lies, delays, and judgmental doctors

I think about my abortion in 2006 as an incredibly positive choice I made for my life. Everything I had read or heard made me feel like it would haunt me forever, but this is a decision I am proud of and do not regret in the slightest. I was 21 at the time, living in...

Delays, nausea, and encouragement

I was 24 when I got pregnant. I was in a long-distance relationship, was on the same pill I had been on since the age of 16, and mostly used condoms. I was not some stupid kid who didn’t know the risks. I wasn’t sleeping around. I wasn’t drunk. I wasn’t uneducated. I...

Pharmacist refuses to supply emergency contraception

My boyfriend and I walked in and asked to speak to the charge pharmacist. My boyfriend explained that I needed the morning after pill. The charge pharmacist was polite, but we were refused and asked to go to another pharmacy.

Advised with falsehoods

I was inappropriately advised about the traumatic nature of abortion, and potential for permanent gynaecological damage, causing severe distress.

Doctor slutshames patient

I asked for some advice on which contraception I should be using as my partner and I had decided to start having sex. At the time we were both 21years old and hadn't had sex yet, but I wanted to be prepared. The doctor then began to tell me that I shouldn't be having...

“Non-affiliated counsellors” push propaganda

I was pregnant and concerned that I might have post-natal depression after giving birth. I was very anxious about the pregnancy having had a miscarriage in the past. I was told by this particular service that they were non-affiliated and would send counsellors to my...

Doctor refuses to refer

I stumbled across this doctor's comments and thought it would be useful to clarify the point. It became evident that he didn't just have issue with guidelines around fetal abnormality, but with pregnant people having choice.