One CALM (Campaign for abortion Law Reform) supporter has told iomtoday.co.im about her experiences.

She said that, while she supported the principle of abortion law reform anyway, her own personal experience illustrated the need for change.

’I was in an abusive relationship a number of years ago and I became pregnant,’ she said.

’I have never wanted a child, but that situation was the worst position that could have happened.

’There was just no way I was ever going to be happy to take that pregnancy through to term.’

She went to her GP and told him about her situation and what she wanted to do but, said she received no support.

’His response, virtually verbatim, was, "Let us know if you change your mind."’

At the time, she was about five-six weeks pregnant.

’I told my then partner what I was going to do and he beat me up,’ she said.

’There was just no way this was a situation that a child was going to be healthy addition to the milieu.’

The woman ended up travelling to Manchester with a friend, to visit a clinic. When she got there, she felt ’such relief’.

She said she was lucky enough to be able to afford to pay for the travel and the treatment.

The woman underwent a full medical procedure, under a general anaesthetic, because the staff at the clinic knew she was due to travel back and did not want to risk her going through an induced miscarriage while on her journey back to the Isle of Man - a possibility if she had used pills.

She described the situation of being forced to travel for the procedure as ’ridiculous’.

There was no medical support for her in the island, either before she went away or upon her return.

’I was just so relieved to have the financial wherewithal to do that, but I know there are lots of women out there that do not have the best part of £1,000 to do what they need to do.’