The Alliance MLA Kellie Armstrong has said she was forced to leave the count centre during election counts as she had been sent graphic images of an aborted foetus.
Ms Armstrong said she had opened her phone expecting another message of congratulations but was greeted by the sickening images instead.
"I left the count centre to sort of pull myself together," she told BBC's Good Morning Ulster show.
Read more: Record number of women elected to Northern Ireland Assembly shows 'baby steps' towards equality
The Strangford MLA said her own personal history meant the images, which were upsetting already, had even more of an impact.
"Having been through multiple miscarriages, and I've been very open about it, it really cut me to my core," she said.
"I didn't want to have a bad reaction in a room full of hundreds of people so I left the count centre to try to pull myself together.
"Something like that just makes you physically sick and it's very upsetting for me because I don't need to be taken back to seeing images of what I have experienced in the past."
She added that police were now investigating the sending of the images.
"It's something that is against the law, it's malicious communication so I have involved the police on that and they will be looking into that incident.
"It doesn't give me pleasure to have to actually go that far with police, but it is horrendous to have to see.
"There are many other people to have lost babies through pregnancy and who deserve to be protected from people sending images like that, that's why I'm doing it."
Fellow MLAs Diane Forsythe and Cara Hunter have both been targeted with malicious and false messaging in the run-up to the elections.
"Whether it's fake images or false information being put out, it's almost as if some parts of the population don't want women running for politics," Ms Armstrong said.
"That's just the type of stuff that comes through to women, there's allegations of us having some sort of seedy private life which aren't true, there are images that are sent through to us that are extremely upsetting and it can be a very callous part of politics.
"That's why we have the women's caucus within the Assembly - even though there can be a lot of abuse hurled at our male counterparts, it seems to be a very personal and very derogatory way that women in particular are targeted in politics."
She said that part of the role of the caucus would be to go to social media companies to demand action be taken to protect women from the sort of malicious messaging she and others have experienced.
Read more: DUP leader refuses to commit to election of Assembly speaker
Read more: Northern Ireland Protocol: Liz Truss 'will not shy away' from taking action
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
