The woman refused an abortion under Ireland’s new laws has broke her silence and claims she was told she could terminate her pregnancy.
She has also told the Irish Times that she tried to take her own life after 16 weeks of pregnancy.
The non-national said she was the victim of a rape before she arrived and only discovered she was pregnant when she went for a medical check-up after her arrival in Ireland.
She was eight weeks and four days pregnant when she learned of the pregnancy.
In the interview with The Irish Times she says she immediately expressed her desire to die rather than bear her rapist’s child.
When she was admitted to hospital with suicidal thoughts last month she was 24 weeks pregnant.
She told the paper she was initially told she could not have an abortion as the pregnancy was too far progressed.
The woman said: “They said they could not do an abortion. I said, ‘You can leave me now to die. I don’t want to live in this world anymore’
After the woman began a thirst and hunger strike a panel of three experts, two psychiatrists and one obstetrician, was convened.
The woman was certified as suicidal and it was agreed the pregnancy should be terminated. A High Court order was also obtained to rehydrate and feed her.
The woman told the Irish Times that she was then told she could have the abortion, but was later told in fact the only option open to her was a Caesarean section.
She added: “They said the pregnancy was too far. It was going to have to be a Caesarean section... They said, wherever you go in the world, the United States, anywhere, at this point it has to be a Caesarean.”
The woman said she felt she didn’t have a choice.
The report adds that the section was performed on her earlier this month.
The woman was discharged a week later and is receiving psychiatric care in the community but her baby remains in hospital.
Described by the Irish Times as looking very thin, fragile and about four years younger than her age, the woman said she attempted to take her own life at 16 weeks pregnant when told the costs of traveling to Britain for an abortion could be as high as $2,000.
She said: “In my culture it is a great shame to be pregnant if not married.
“When I came to this country I thought I could forget suffering... The scar from the C-section will never go away. It will always be a reminder. I still suffer.
“I don’t know if what has happened to me is normal. She adds: “I just wanted justice to be done. For me, this is injustice.”
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