MAFS star Laura Vaughan asks for compassion after revealing secret abortion at seven months pregnant
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MARRIED At First Sight star Laura Vaughan has called on fans for "compassion" after revealing her secret abortion at seven months pregnant.
The E4 alum bravely opened up in a candid chat with The Sun and told how the medical abortion in 2016, when she was 26, left her struggling to make sense of what had happened.
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MAFS star Laura Vaughan has called for compassion after revealing her secret abortion at seven months pregnant
Credit: Instagram/@laurajayvaughan
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The 2023 E4 show star took to her Instagram Stories to discuss her exclusive with The Sun
Credit: Instagram/@laurajayvaughan
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Laura found fame on the E4 series
Credit: E4
Laura, now 35, told how she opted for the heartbreaking medical procedure after doctors told her she had been unknowingly putting her unborn foetus at high risk of 'extreme' harm by taking a powerful drug to treat her acne.
Now the Married At First Sight bride, who starred in the 2023 instalment, has taken to her Instagram page to add further detail.
She posted a link to our article to her Instagram Stories and, in a piece to camera, told her followers: "The reason I'm talking about it is because I have promised to be a little bit more open particularly around some of my life choices.
"Whenever I talk about like being in my Thirties and trying to challenge some societal pressures and norms and things like that about being a female, I get a lot of questions about why I don't want children."
She added: "I've had a lot of shame around this for a very long time and particularly since I've had my platform.
"I have struggled to tell anyone about this because there is a lot of shame around the subject I think."
Laura then told how there was an imbalance in the way abortions and miscarriages are referred to, and in the language used for them.
She then addressed an eating disorder which followed the medical abortion and told of her desire to change her figure as being due to the fact "I didn't want to carry that experience with me for any longer than I had to."
In her final Instagram slide, Laura uploaded a link to the Arch charity and added the words: "My aim going forward is to shed light on the silent weight so many women carry.
"We need to bridge the empathy gap between miscarriage and abortion - both are profound losses yet sometimes only one is met with compassion.
Laura Vaughn's MAFS diary: Adam and Polly are childish and Luke's hiding something - this series has been unhealthy
"I hope to challenge the stigma, support others in similar situations, and work alongside charities and educators to create a society where all reproductive experiences are treated with understanding not judgement."
ROUGH REVEAL
Recently, we reported how Laura, initially thought it was 'impossible' when a Clearblue digital pregnancy test revealed she was expecting.
And she was even more stunned when doctors told her she was in the third trimester.
lthough the former finance manager had been suffering from bloating and missed periods, she claims she had been told the symptoms were likely caused by a 'ruptured cyst'.
She'd gone to see a GP about her symptoms - including bloating and pain in her stomach - but she'd explained that they looked at her medical records and noticed that the year before she'd had a ruptured cyst and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and said that was "likely the cause again".
They referred Laura for a scan which, she says, she kept forgetting to book.
Laura was still able to "squeeze into size 6/8 dresses" while not being aware of her pregnancy, and considered her weight gain to be down to bloating the entire time.
She said: "It was literally the week I decided to test that my stomach popped, and I remember thinking 'this isn't right'."
Recalling the moment the Clearblue test came up with the phrase '2-3 weeks [pregnant]", Laura, now an influencer, said: 'My first thought was 'that's impossible'... but then I realised that is how the tests display it, so I could've been pregnant for months - and I was.'
Laura's shock at her cryptic pregnancy soon turned into an unimaginable ordeal when she learned the strong acne drug she had been taking, isotretinoin, can cause birth defects.
Due to the risk of birth defects to her foetus, Laura was offered a medical abortion - and, with a heavy heart, she accepted it.
'That whole time of my life was incredibly challenging and I didn't feel emotionally equipped to deal with the weight of the situation,' the former TV bride told The Sun.
Recalling the hospital procedure itself, she added: 'I went for the abortion and I was meant to be in and out within a day and a half but I ended up being in for nearly a week.
'They could get me to contract but couldn't get me to full labour, and so I was having contractions and then [they were] stopping.
"It was agony. It was just so awful for my state of mind, too, going into labour multiple times and then nothing.'
Laura, who had a failed love match with tennis coach Arthur Poremba, 38, on MAFS, described how she broke down to a midwife, saying she was terrified that the reason why her body wasn't responding to the abortion was because she wasn't meant to do it.
And in another heart-wrenching confession, she admitted she wanted to take it all back, but couldn't.
'It impacted me so heavily. All of it,' she said of her ordeal.
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She opted for the heartbreaking medical procedure aged 26
Credit: Instagram/@laurajayvaughan
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Laura made her tough decision after being told she had unknowingly put her unborn baby at risk
Credit: Instagram
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