Hannah Ferguson reveals why she had an abortion

A 26-year-old media mogul has revealed why there was no other choice for her than to terminate her unplanned pregnancy.

A 26-year-old media mogul has revealed why she decided to terminate her unplanned pregnancy.

Hannah Ferguson, who is the founder of Cheek Media Co, is set to appear on SBS Insight on Tuesday in an episode called Your Body, Your Choice?

The episode looks at medical autonomy, and issues including abortion, increasing Voluntary Assisted Dying access and vaccinations.

Ms Ferguson revealed she discovered she was pregnant in September 2024 and, as a 26-year-old with political aspirations, bringing a child into the world was not something she has planned at that point.

“I was taking contraception at the time, it was completely an accident this happened,” Ms Ferguson told news.com.au ahead of the episode airing.

At the same time, she was taking a medication called roaccutane that is prescribed for cystic acne. The medication requires users to sign a form warning of the complications that could arise if pregnant while taking the medication.

Within 30 minutes of discovering she was pregnant, Ms Ferguson booked a medical termination. She had it at the six week mark — exactly to the day — at a private medical facility in Sydney. It cost $550.

“Regardless of if I was taking the medication or not, I did not want to be pregnant. I did not want to become a parent,” she said.

“I am 26. I run my own media company. I have very strong political aspirations, and so for me it was a no-brainer. Especially in these circumstances, but in any circumstances I am not ready to be a parent.”

Hannah Ferguson, who is the founder of Cheek Media Co, is set to appear on SBS Insight on Tuesday in an episode called Your Body, Your Choice? Picture: Instagram/hannahferguson___

Ms Ferguson said it was essentially a “postcode lottery” and privilege that she was able to access abortion care so quickly. She said she understands this isn’t the case for many Australians, who may not have access to funds, live rurally or might have obstacles such as childcare for other children.

Ms Ferguson said she was nervous to open up about her abortion but, at the end of the day, she was “more nervous to not”.

“When I was having the abortion, I was really struggling privately for a couple of weeks because my body was sore. I was debilitated. It was in the lead up to the US election,” she said.

“The conversations that were happening around me from the South Australian legislation that was introduced in part by Dr Joanna Howe or in Queensland, the way the Katter Party weaponised abortion — and late term abortion specifically — as an election issue meant that I felt compelled to talk about it.

“Silence actually felt a lot more pressure and a lot more toxicity for me having gone through that and watching this unfold in the political sphere in Australia as a flow on from the US.” Australia is heading into a federal election in 2025.

She took to Instagram ahead of the episode. Picture: Instagram/hannahferguson___

However, Ms Ferguson doesn’t believe it will be a topic that Liberal leader Peter Dutton will shy away from.

Ahead of the episode airing, Ms Ferguson said she believes in the same thing that Insight is about — getting people into a room who have different perspectives to have “powerful, important and taboo” conversations.

“In saying that, what was hard for me in that room was when I was seated, and it was me as a pro choice advocate against two people who were clearly anti choice — one being a Christian male and the other being a professor of law — it was quite destabilising and quite emotionally taxing to be going up against people who were so anti my individual healthcare choice,” she said.

She said for her, there was no other choice. Picture: Instagram/hannahferguson___

Ms Ferguson also added there were other people in the room who had different opinions to her but were talking about healthcare options such as vaccines. She said some times people believed in their own bodily autonomy, but not necessarily hers, adding this was “hurtful”.

Ms Ferguson added that having a pro and an anti-person on each issue wasn’t necessarily reflective of the Australian population as well, however it does inspire conversation in this platform.

“I think when people are watching the episode and considering their own opinion, I think it’s important to remember that you have a diversity of opinion on different choices people are talking about for different reasons,” she said.

“They’re not actually a one size fits all answer in terms of your personal view.”

She said its also important to remember each person on the show comes with different experiences that have shaped their own world view, and, remaining open to having your mind changed is incredibly hard but she hopes people watching will have an open mind.

Watch Your Body, Your Choice? this Tuesday at 8.30pm (AEDT) on SBS or live on SBS On Demand.