Tayla-Jane Jackson shares raw late-term abortion experience with ABC Stateline SA

A South Australian woman has given a raw and personal account of what her late-term abortion was like and why she chose that path.

A South Australian woman who has a son with disabilities says she had a late-term abortion last year while “technically homeless” for the sake of her mental health.

Tayla-Jane Jackson told the ABC she had the termination at 27 weeks and six days into her pregnancy in July, 2023.

She told her story amid controversy over an abortion law reform bid by Liberal MLC Ben Hood.

Under his Live Births Amendment Bill, mothers seeking abortions that late would have to deliver their babies alive. The bill was being debated in state parliament on Wednesday night.

Ms Jackson said she did not know she was pregnant until 24 weeks.

Tayla-Jane Jackson speaks to Stateline South Australia. Picture: ABC

“I have endometriosis and my doctor told me to go on the pill for six months and skip my periods for six months just because I was so anaemic – I couldn’t afford the blood loss,” she told the ABC.

“At the end of the six months I went to have a period and it didn’t come.

“I have been pregnant before. I have a little boy so I do know what being pregnant feels like and I had zero idea, none at all.”

As soon as she found out she knew she was going to have a termination.

“I’m a single mum and I have a little boy who is eight now. He was six at the time. He has disabilities and all parents know that parenting is hard but when you have a disabled child it’s another level of difficulty,” she said.

“I try to do the best I can for him and I knew that bringing in a newborn was going to be very rough.

“At the time I was technically homeless because I wasn’t on the list anywhere. I was staying with friends who very graciously let me and my little boy stay with them.

“I don’t think I would still be here today if I had had that baby.

“It would have been so bad for my mental health.

“I truly don’t think I would be here.”

Tayla-Jane Jackson speaks to Stateline South Australia. Picture: ABC

Ms Jackson said she had a “twilight anaesthetic” – an injection through her abdomen into the uterus “to stop the heartbeat and stop the pregnancy”.

The next day she went to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital to be induced.

Asked by the ABC how she felt about the prospect of women having to deliver babies alive instead of stillborn in such situations, she said: “It makes me really sad to think about it if the bill gets through, but also really angry because I don’t think that this bill is a solution to a real problem.

“I think it’s creating a problem because nobody’s getting a late-term abortion for convenience. “It has to be deemed medically necessary.”