Learning you're pregnant is usually a cause for cerebration, but for a woman with cancer it was a nightmare.

Australian woman Lisa knew she couldn't have a second child while undergoing 'hideous' breast cancer treatment and an abortion was her only option.

'I was in complete shock... I would have done damage to the baby, it would have set my treatment right back, I already have a child I need to be here for,' the woman, who did not give her last name, told Whimn.

Cash-strapped from expensive cancer treatment and not wanting another surgery, the 45-year-old decided to use abortion pill RU486 at home.






Lisa had an abortion at home after becoming pregnant during cancer treatment (stock image)


Lisa called the Tabbot Foundation, which screens women for at-home abortions, mails them the pills, and provides medical support through the process at a cost of $250 for Medicare card holders and $600 for other women. 

First she spoke to a psychologist and doctor to comply with her state's abortion laws and then had an ultrasound and a blood test.






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Then the drugs arrived in the mail with instructions on how to use them, with a nurse on the phone to guide her through it and a doctor on call.

It usually takes about 12 hours for the termination to start, but Lisa said it began almost immediately and she had to call the doctor.






She used abortion pill RU486 (pictured) because it was cheaper and non-surgical (stock image)







She had doctors on the phone to help when she experienced intense pain and bleeding after taking it (stock image)




ABORTION LAW IN AUSTRALIA 



ACT: Legal on request

QLD: Legal if pregnancy would mean a serious danger to the women's health

NSW: Legal if pregnancy would mean a serious danger to the women's health, fetal defects or for economic or social factors

NT: Legal on request

SA: Legal if pregnancy would mean a serious danger to the women's health or for fetal defects 

TAS: Legal on request 

VIC: Legal on request 

WA: Legal if pregnancy would mean a serious danger to the women's health, for fetal defects or for economic or social factors 








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She experienced heavy bleeding and an unexpected searing pain, though she said it passed quickly.

'The doctors and nurses will say it's like a heavy period but it's not, it's worse than that but that shouldn't scare people, that is normal,' she said.

Tabbot's website stated: 'Most women experience pain and cramping like period pain and this can be intense for the first 1-2 hours'.

Lisa said the pain and bleeding lasted about three to four hours, while doctors called back to check on her, followed by 10 days of period-like bleeding.

The relieved mother said the decision to end her pregnancy should be a woman's alone and hit out at those who wanted abortion banned.

'If I hadn't have had access to this method in my own home away from hospitals it just doesn't bear thinking about, I probably would have either died from cancer or had a disabled child to deal with if it had gone full term,' she said.

'To think that someone could take that choice away from me in order to make me have those two outcomes, it just doesn't sit right.' 



Read more:

Abortion in Australia: Tabbot Foundation abortion service safe and effective, ไซโตเทค review finds

Abortion in Australia | The Tabbot Foundation