Tess Holliday opens up about having ‘necessary’ abortion in midst of postpartum depression

'We need more education and we need to talk about all of this more'

(Getty Images for New York Fashion Week: The Shows)

Tess Holliday has opened up about having an abortion following the birth of her second child when she was in the midst of postpartum depression and “experiencing suicidal thoughts”.

Following the restrictive abortion laws that have been passed in several US states, the Mississippi-born model spoke about her own termination, describing the decision as “awful” but “necessary” for her mental health.

“I had postpartum depression and then severe delayed postpartum and that’s what I was dealing with,” Holliday told People.

“When I found out that I was pregnant again, I thought there’s no way I could do this. I was already, for the first time, experiencing suicidal thoughts. I literally didn’t want to go through any day at all. So, the thought of having to do it, to go through all of that again, destroyed me.”

Holliday told the publication that she wished she didn’t have to share her story, but felt obliged to speak out against the abortion laws that are making it incredibly difficult, and in some states impossible, for women to terminate their pregnancies, even in cases of rape and incest.

“In my home state of Mississippi, we had the one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy, the highest rates of school dropout, and it kind of blows my mind that all of that can be happening, but yet we don’t get taught sex ed in school,” she continued.

“I feel like we’re shaming people for needing to get an abortion, but then you’re not actually educating them beforehand.

“We need more education and we need to talk about all of this more.”

Holliday’s interview comes after she first posted about her abortion on Instagram on Friday, describing the experience as “excruciating”.

The body positivity spokesperson went on to encourage her 1.9 million followers to make a donation to the Yellowhammer fund, a grassroots organisation that is raising money to give women safe abortion access in Alabama, which now has the strictest abortion laws in the US. It has banned the procedure in all instances unless it is necessary for the mother’s health.

The law came into force after the state senate voted 25-6 in favour of the bill earlier this month. All 25 of those who voted in favour were men, with a compilation image of their faces having now been shared thousands of times on social media after Rihanna posted it on 16 May, writing “shame on you”.

“Don’t let these old white men tell us what we should do with our bodies,” Holliday’s post concludes.