This story was submitted to us.
I have had two abortions and the most heartbreaking thing of all is that they were planned pregnancies but due to my severe fear of pregnancy and birth I couldn’t go through with it.
There needs to be more awareness and support around the condition of Tokophobia and often it really does come down to continuing with a pregnancy and letting your mental health drastically suffer, or to terminate and look after yourself.
Editor’s Note: We are grateful to the person who shared this brief story. We wish to honor and dignify their experience by helping spread comfort, compassion and awareness of Tokophobia with the following information and links:
What is Tokophobia?
Tokophobia is a deep fear of pregnancy that is so severe it leads many to stop their pregnancies to avoid birth. Just as people experience severe post-partum suffering, some pregnant people also go through debilitating PRE-partum stress and suffering.
People who have never experienced pregnancy and childbirth can experience the pain of Tokophobia, and people who’ve had traumatic pregnancy and birth experiences also can develop Tokophobia as a pre-partum stress disorder.
Tokophobia is very much like nearly all of our reproductive experiences that do not conform to the overly glamorized messaging in society about pregnancies and births: they are unjustly shrouded in silence, stigma and misinformation.
This cruel taboo attitude leaves people alone with feelings of painful isolation and alienation. We send endless love and respect to everyone who has ever suffered from the fear and loneliness of this condition.
Researchers are starting to call for the healthcare sphere to take these debilitating fears of pregnant people much more seriously. They recommend education campaigns within the reproductive healthcare community and in the public at large.
Click here to see trusted research about Tokophobia. And please note that when you scroll down through the article, you will find links to more research.
For emotional support, it may be helpful to see that you are not alone in experiencing Tokophobia and choosing abortions. Please consider reading the experiences that other have shared in the on-line Reddit forum r/abortion:
Click this link to see a list of posts that came up when we searched the term “Tokophobia” in the r/abortion forum.
If you know of other research and/or resources, please share them with us so we can help end the suffering caused by Tokophobia and increase society’s compassion around this very real, very devastating condition.