Over the weekend, photography project Humans of New York shared the heartbreaking story of a woman who was forced to give herself an abortion when she fell pregnant at the age of 18.
The project is currently documenting the lives of those living in the Argentinian city of Buenos Aires.
Access to abortion is illegal in Argentina, except in extreme cases.
“I didn’t want to be a mother. I was eighteen. We weren’t in love,” the woman’s story, which has been shared over 27,000 times on Facebook, began.
“I had goals I wanted to accomplish. So I made the hardest decision of my life.
“It’s not legal here. So I researched it on the Internet. I did it myself. In my room. If things had gone wrong, I could have died. Seeing it come out of me was the worst moment of my life. And I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even my parents. So I carried the secret with me. I felt like this thing was always in my chest, but it was stuck there. All day I’d act normal. Then at night I’d go to my room and cry.”
The story has prompted an emotional response from the photography project’s 6.5 million followers, with many commenting that the woman’s story is the reason they fight for women’s rights.

Top Comments
That poor woman
Safe legal access for all women is whats needed
A doctor in Syndey was telling me in the 70s at a university clinic they used a symbol on medical records to denote if a women had had an abortion. Police raided the office and took all the records and went through them. She said that given abortion is illegal in NSW (except if a mother's physical or mental health is at risk) it's possible the same could happen today.