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An internet-wide debate has resulted from one brave woman’s choice to detail her at-home abortion experience on TikTok. On 20 July, a 24-year-old woman named Monica showed her TikTok followers how she completed her abortion, from the comfort of her home, for the first time at nine weeks pregnant. She began by showing the items she needed to prepare her body: the required prescription drug typically used for terminating early pregnancy, motion sickness medicine, a bottle of water, maxi pads, and Planned Parenthood’s timely instructions. “It is highly recommended to take ibuprofen (with food) and anti-nausea pills 30 minutes before your first dose of abortion pills which I did here,” she said. For her first dose, Monica – who already has one daughter – was required to put four pills in the sides of her mouth and keep them there for 30 minutes. Then, she washed down the tablets with water. Speaking with Newsweek, the woman explained why she decided to share her abortion experience using the medications mifepristone and misoprostol, which are typically prescribed to terminate early stages of pregnancy. “My hope would be that abortion becomes more normalised and seen as what it is - healthcare,” she confessed. “I wanted to create a safe space for women to come forward and share their experiences and stories about their abortions without the fear of being judged or criticised.” The 24-year-old continued: “I’ve noticed that the media tends to ignore the topic of abortion as a whole and I thought, ‘Well, maybe if I come forward and share my own journey, we can finally talk about it.’” Her video showing the side effects of using the “abortion pill” - mifepristone and misoprostol, prescribed by Planned Parenthood - has now reached over 3.1m views. However, it’s received mixed emotions and reactions online. @monicathehuman TW: Abortion Pro-Lifers please dni. This is my personal experience with abortion pills and how I prepared for the day. There is a lot left out so if you have any questions please feel free to ask and I’ll do be my best to go into more detail! Side note: I am a 24 year old mother of one. Overall, the pain was at a 10 for me and I have a very high pain tolerance and personally, it felt like being in labor without an epidural. Just note, this experience is NOT expected for everyone! For others it may just feel like a very bad period and I am someone who luckily doesn’t experience period cramps so this is not a usual thing for me! A special shoutout to @Planned Parenthood for helping my experience run smooth and quickly ❤️ My symptoms the first 12 hours: •Slight Nausea in the first 15 min. •Diarrhea •Dizziness •Fatigue after 10 hours My symptoms the morning after: •Spotting Resources: Need to talk to someone about your abortion experience? Text: 617-749-2948 Or Visit: https://www.mahotline.org/ for any info or support to self-manage a miscarriage or abortion #plannedparenthood #abortion #abortionpill #prochoice #abortionexperience #mifepristone #misoprostol ♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono - moshimo sound design While some followers thanked Monica for her vulnerability, others were opposed. “Thank you for posting. I’ve never known how these kind of abortions work,” one woman wrote. “Wtf why is this on TikTok?” another person said. “I definitely felt hesitant about documenting my abortion because I was so worried about the kind of response I would get,” Monica told Newsweek. “It was my attempt to reach out to those who may feel alone or unsupported through such a vulnerable event and to show that there is nothing to hide when it comes to making a choice that is best for you.” “In all honesty, when the negativity did start rolling in, I was just so comfortable with my decision that none of them fazed me. There was nothing anyone could have said that would have changed my mind or made me regret posting my video,” she continued. “I helped so many more people than they ever could have with their hatred and that’s what mattered most to me - helping people.” @monicathehuman Here is my abortion follow-up video for everyone wondering what that looks like! Thank you all again for your support and thank you to everyone who felt safe enough to confide in me about their journeys! ❤️ You’re all so loved and this is your reminder that you are NOT alone and you are supported by SO many despite the stigma. Abortion is Healthcare! ?? • • #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortion #abortionjourney #plannedparenthood #prochoice #abortionpill #mifepristone #misoprostol #abortionexperience #aidaccess #plancpills ♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono - moshimo sound design Despite the negativity, an overwhelming number of commenters were pleased to see Monica open up about her experience. Many women related to her, and offered their own advice on how to cope emotionally and physically following an abortion. One individual said: “Please priortise your mental health after this process. It could be hard, but you got this. You are strong. You did what was right for you.” “This was so informative. Thanks for sharing your story,” a TikTok user noted, while another added: “Literally saving. Bless you, for showing us the process. I was always terrified of it.” Even commenters from US states such as Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama - where bans or restrictions to abortion access have become increasingly common - encouraged her honesty, despite being located where abortion has now been made illegal and inaccessible. “I think it’s incredibly important for women to share stories like this because in a big way, it helps to destigmatise abortion,” Monica told Newsweek. “Talking to all these women and sharing our stories together also opened my eyes to see just how little support women around the world have when it comes to reproductive health.” @monicathehuman #abortion #abortionrights #abortionishealthcare #abortionjourney #prochoice #abortionexperience ♬ original sound - Moon ? “It’s a right that everyone deserves and a choice that no one should ever make without proper resources and education. It’s heartbreaking when I hear that it’s not available to everyone just anywhere,” the mother said. “In some places, it may even place a danger on people for just talking about it. I felt so powerless with my inability to help them and I can only imagine what they may feel.” She added: “I hope that my video will reach the right people who have had questions about abortion and to hopefully clear the misconceptions and lies surrounding it. It’s not as scary as many people have been taught to believe, and they are not alone.” In 2022, the US Supreme Court officially overturned the decision in Roe v Wade, which protected a woman’s right to an abortion more than 50 years ago. One year later, 13 states have implemented total bans starting from conception, while Georgia has implemented a ban after six weeks. The Independent has reached out to Monica for comment. Read More What the GOP candidates have said about abortion rights Abortion drug case likely headed to Supreme Court after Republican-appointed judges agree to restrict access Are abortions about to be even harder to get? Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat

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Major wildfires burning for days in northeastern Greece and on the fringes of the country's capital have incinerated more tracts of forest and forced additional evacuations Thursday as firefighters struggled against strong winds and arid conditions to bring the multiple fronts under control. The wildfires have left 20 people dead over the last week. Eighteen of those, including two boys aged between 10 and 15, are believed to be migrants who crossed the nearby border with Turkey. Their bodies were found by firefighters near a shack in a burnt forest area in northeastern Greece. Sixty firefighters have been injured battling the flames, fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said Thursday. Elsewhere in Europe, fires on Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, northwestern Turkey near the border with Greece, Portugal and Italy were being brought under control, officials said. In Greece, dozens of firefighting aircraft, including from other European countries, assisted hundreds crews on the ground trying to beat back multiple fires raging across the country. On Wednesday alone, firefighters battled 99 separate blazes across the country, authorities said. In Greece’s northeast, a major fire in the Alexandroupolis area that forced numerous evacuations, including of the city’s general hospital, was burning for a sixth day with few signs of abating. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service, the Alexandroupolis fire had scorched more than 723 square kilometers (280 square miles) by Wednesday, making it one of the largest on European soil in several years. Copernicus is the EU space program’s Earth observation component and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data. On the outskirts of Athens, a major fire that destroyed homes in the foothills of Mount Parnitha on Wednesday was racing across the mountain’s forested slopes and threatened the heart of a national park that's one of the last wooded areas near the Greek capital. Evacuation orders were issued for several outlying suburbs overnight into Thursday, while other neighborhoods were put on standby for possible evacuation. With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece has asked other European countries for assistance. Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus have sent aircraft, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian and Albanian firefighters have been helping on the ground. Artopios, the Greek fire department spokesman, said 260 firefighters, including more than a dozen from France, were battling the Parnitha fire supported by a multinational force of 10 planes and 11 helicopters. Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian and Czech firefighters with vehicles were helping in the Alexandroupolis fire. With their hot, dry summers, southern European countries are particularly prone to wildfires. European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017. Gale-force winds combined with hot, dry weather to whip up the flames over the past week in Greece, making the blazes exceptionally difficult to bring under control. Weather conditions this summer have been “the worst since meteorological data have been gathered and the fire risk map has been issued in the country,” Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Wednesday. Extensive parts of the country have been placed at Level 5 - the highest for fire risk - seven times this year. Kikilias said that was double the number of 2021, four times that of 2019 and seven times more than in 2012. In Spain’s Tenerife, a fire that has scorched 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) was being brought under control by Wednesday night. “It’s a very tough battle that the firefighting teams are winning,” Canary regional government counselor Manuel Miranda said Wednesday evening. In Turkey, firefighters in the northwestern Canakkale province on Thursday brought a wildfire under control less than 48 hours after it erupted amid high temperatures and strong winds, Turkish Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said. Yumakli said the fire, which had forced the evacuation of 11 villages, had affected 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) including 14 square kilometers (5.4 square miles) of agricultural land. A firefighting volunteer who was injured and six other people who suffered from smoke inhalation were being kept under observation in hospitals, Yumakli said. “We are extremely happy that there was no loss of life,” Yamukli said. “However, we are heartbroken for other creatures of the ecosystem that were affected.” Shipping traffic through the Dardanelles Strait, a major maritime thoroughfare linking the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara, was being partially restored to one lane only, after being completely suspended as fire-dousing aircraft use the waterway to pick up water. Yumakli said another fire in central Turkey has also been brought under control and there were no other active wildfires in the country on Thursday. Two large fires in Portugal and a smaller one in Italy were brought under control by Thursday, those countries' authorities said, but temperatures - and the risk of new fires - remained high. ____ Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide From Europe to Canada to Hawaii, photos capture destructive power of wildfires Tropical storm hits Caribbean, wildfires rage in Greece. What to know about extreme weather now ‘Frustrated’ British Museum boss says dealer did not mention more missing items