A woman who was allegedly forced to give birth to her unborn child at the age of 15 has appeared in a viral video in which she says she was “shocked” by her pregnancy and then told she “couldn’t afford to pay for it”.
The 19-year-old was reportedly forced to abort the pregnancy when she was 16 and now lives in New Zealand, where she is studying to be a GP.
“I was really upset about it, I really didn’t want to give it a chance, I just wanted to go back to being a child, to having my baby, and now I don’t know what to do,” she said in the video, posted on social media by the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
In the video posted on Monday, Ms Taylor, who is from Auckland, is seen telling a friend, “You know I was scared and I couldn’t afford it, but you were right, I didn’t get to.”
It’s a real struggle for me now to be able to have a baby, I’m not in a position where I can afford to have that.
I’m trying to get as much help as I can, and that’s where my support is coming from.
“Ms Taylor, from Auckland in New South Wales, was reportedly told by her GP in Auckland that she “didn’t have the money” to pay the abortion procedure.
She told the NZ Herald she was unable to afford the procedure, and was told to go to a friend’s house for the abortion.
Auckland hospital spokeswoman Linda Naidoo said Ms Taylor had been told by the Auckland GP to go home to New Zealand to find out how much she would be able afford.
Ms Taylor said she would have preferred to have an abortion in New York, but said she did not want to take the risk of having a baby in New England.
But the New York woman said she was not concerned about being unable to pay, adding: “I don’t think it’s fair to blame me.”
Ms Naidow said Ms Tayler was unable because she had not obtained a licence for an abortion, but was able to get a licence to give her baby up for adoption.
New Zealand is one of a number of countries in the world where abortion is illegal.
On Tuesday, Ms Taylers birth mother said she felt relieved, but still felt she needed help.
The woman is now studying to become a GP, Ms Naido said.”
[She] was really shocked at what she did and how she did it, and she’s not happy with it,” Ms Taylor’s mother said.
The woman is now studying to become a GP, Ms Naido said.