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| Sophie Smith before and after surgery |
An obese woman made a decision to have an abortion in order to have her weight loss surgery.
The morbidly obese woman had waited three months for an appointment for weight loss surgery when she discovered she was pregnant.
Sophie Smith, 20, of London, was at a loss when she found out she was pregnant with her second child. The doctor advised her that she could not have her long-awaited surgery until after the baby was born. Smith had a difficult decision to make, cancel the surgery and wait until after her baby was born, then, reassess if she was a candidate for the surgery, or abort her baby.
Eventually, she made up her mind, instead of canceling her long-awaited gastric bypass operation, she made the heartbreaking decision to terminate her pregnancy. Smith, who weighed 350 pounds, insists that she made the right decision because she feared that if she did not have the surgery she might not be around to raise her child.
Smith is a full-time mom to her 18-month-old son, Nathan. Smith said: "As I had the abortion, tears were streaming down my cheeks as I was killing my child in order to be thinner, but I felt I had no choice. If I had carried on the way I was, I might not be around to see Nathan grow up."
The pregnancy was not planned and the baby’s father had since left the family. Since the father was no longer part of her life, she decided to go forward with the abortion. Smith has always struggled with her weight. At the age of 11, she was already a size 20. In college, she left a childcare course blaming her size.
At age 17, she became pregnant, but miscarried at ten weeks. Six months later, she was pregnant again. Her boyfriend did not want the child, but she wanted to keep the baby, so they split up. Being pregnant with Nathan left her 84 pounds heavier. While waiting for surgery, she discovered she was ten weeks pregnant, despite having a contraceptive implant.
The surgeon told Smith that if the operation was canceled she would have to start the process over again after the birth of her baby. "It could be years before I have another chance for surgery. Over time, I made my decision. I could have a baby later when I am in a stable relationship,” she said. So she had the abortion and she went ahead with the gastric bypass surgery.
"Now, I have a son, and I will be here to see him grow up. To me that is worth any sacrifice," she added.
