An American pop icon has claimed she had an abortion after becoming pregnant during a relationship with another famous singer. She was aged nineteen at the time. Writing of her abortion, the star said: “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”
International music star Britney Spears, 41, has revealed in a new memoir that she had an abortion after getting pregnant with singer Justin Timberlake “who didn’t want to be a father”.
Spears and Timberlake dated between 1999 and 2002. In her memoir, titled The Woman in Me, Spears writes that their relationship led to her getting pregnant.
“It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy”, writes Spears. “I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated…
“But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young…
“If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
Spears later went on to have two children with her second husband, Kevin Federline.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Many women who have abortions report being pressured by partners and family. While Britney Spears was not coerced, she says she wouldn’t have had an abortion if her boyfriend at the time had supported her.
“The notion that abortion is about ‘choice’ is in many cases a fantasy promoted by abortion apologists who refuse to admit that women’s instinct to keep a baby is often undermined by unsupportive and even coercive partners.
“Unless we stand up for women and admit the problem, this painful cycle will continue to repeat itself. Women are the victims of abortion and the silence that surrounds it. We commend Britney Spears for finally speaking out about it.”
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