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Alina Dulgheriu made the comments just ahead of the matter being brought before the Stormont Assembly tomorrow.

In it, she recounts how 11 years ago she was en route to an abortion clinic when she was persuaded to turn back thanks to a leaflet given to her outside the facility.

At the time, she said, she was single and facing unemployment.

“On Tuesday, Stormont will vote on a bill in the name of ‘protecting’ women who find themselves in my situation.,” she said.

“The funny thing is, the voices of women like me rarely get a chance to be heard in relation to what would actually help us.

“That bill, designed to prevent us from hearing about offers of support to continue our pregnancies, will shut down options open to women who find themselves in crisis.

“Such legislation would’ve been detrimental to the course of my life. To explain more, let me take you back a decade.

“I didn’t sleep the night before my appointment at Marie Stopes. Some would say I had ‘chosen’ abortion.

“The truth is I didn’t choose it. I just didn’t seem to have any other option... I wanted to keep her, but I didn’t know how. What could I do?”

A few years ago the Catholic former nanny, who is Romanian by background, had been involved in a legal case against Ealing council in London, over its decision to restrict anti-abortion protests in the borough.

It had barred campaigners from within 100 metres (about 330 feet) from the premises.

She lost, and was refused the chance to appeal by the UK Supreme Court in 2020.

Today, she is part of a group called Be Here For Me, which advocates an end to such protest “buffer zones”.

The child she decided to keep 11 years ago is called Sarah.

She added: “The day I turned up to my abortion appointment, a volunteer outside the clinic gave me a leaflet. It offered the help that I had been searching for. I weighed up the two options I had before me, and I chose motherhood.

“I chose to accept help to get housing, help to find a job and help to obtain a pram, a cot and nappies...

“Removing the option to receive help to keep a child in case we feel ‘offended’ is deeply patronising, assuming that we can’t make a decision for ourselves.”

Her comments were forwarded to the News Letter by someone working for the European arm of ADF, a right-wing US Christian group (though they stressed they were supporting Ms Dulgheriu’s cause in a voluntary capacity, not on behalf of ADF).

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill, driven forward by Green MLA Clare Bailey, would allow for protestors to be kept up to 150m from abortion facilities.

Tomorrow is its final reading.

It would make it an offence for anyone “to do an act in a safe access zone with the intent of, or reckless as to whether it has the effect of, influencing a protected person, whether directly or indirectly” (a protected person being anyone seeking an abortion, working for the clinic, or providing services to that clinic).

Offenders could be fined £2,500.

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Mother who rejected abortion after meeting pro-life activists at clinic in last-ditch plea to MLAs to reject protest curbs