TORONTO – An abortion counselor in New Jersey documented her own abortion procedure with hopes it would provide “guidance, strength, support” for someone who needs it.
The non-graphic video was posted to YouTube on March 14 by 25-year-old Emily Letts.
Letts, who works for Cherry Hill Women’s Center in New Jersey, says in the video she’s “not ready to have children,” and that she feels “comfortable with the decision.”
At one point in the video she says, “I just want to share my story. To show women that there is such a thing as a positive abortion story.”
During the short procedure, Letts is seen holding someone’s hand and comments that she’s “a pretty lucky girl.” She also hums to soothe herself.
When the procedure is finished she says, “cool, I feel good.”
Letts says at the end of the video that she doesn’t “feel like a bad person” for having the abortion and that she doesn’t “feel sad” over it.
“I knew what I was going to do was right… it was right for me and no one else,” she says.
The video has been viewed on YouTube over 170,000 times since it was posted in March. It also won the Abortion Care Network’s Stigma Busting video competition.
Letts’ story is featured in this month’s Cosmopolitan magazine. Because she was only in her first trimester, she tells them “I could have taken the pill, but I wanted to do the one that women were most afraid of. I wanted to show it wasn’t scary.”