A YouTube video showing a 25-year-old abortion counselor having a surgical abortion has gone viral, prompting strong reactions from pro-life campaigners, UK MailOnline reported.
Emily Letts, who works at the Cherry Hill Women's Center in New Jersey, said she filmed and posted the video to help banish stigma surrounding the procedure of abortion.
According to Cosmopolitan.com, Letts "wound up pregnant" by mistake last November. Despite being a sex educator, she hadn't been using any birth control.
"In her three-minute YouTube video, she is seen being wheeled into the operating theater before being filmed from the waist up as doctors remove the embryo from her womb," UK MailOnline reported. "She remains awake throughout, numbed only by local anesthetic."
The footage, watched 99,000 times, reveals that she was only in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Although Letts could have taken an abortion pill instead of going in for surgery, she "wanted to do the one that women were most afraid of."
"I wanted to show it wasn't scary - and that there is such a thing as a positive abortion story. It's my story," she added.
After the procedure is done, she exclaims, "Yeah, cool, I feel good. I'm done."
According to UK MailOnline, about a month after her procedure Letts, a former professional actress, candidly reflects about her experience with viewers.
"I don't feel like a bad person. I don't feel sad," she explains, pointing out that many of the patients at her clinic assume that everyone feels guilty after having an abortion.
"I knew that what I was going to do was right - it was right for me and for no one else."
The video, posted on March 14, has disabled the comments section.
After Letts went public with the footage and shared it on Facebook, other women started reaching out to her with their own stories.
"I had one woman who messaged me saying she'd had an abortion that week and she was plagued with guilt. Her boyfriend called her a killer, but she said she was recovering well and appreciated the video."
However, along with the positive remarks there were also a lot of angry reactions.
"I got... 'You deserve to die', 'you killed your baby,'" Letts recalled.
According to the National abortion Federation 1.3 million abortions are performed in the U.S. every year, with 20 to 24-year-old's accounting for the bulk of procedures.
