The moment I knew: I woke up from my abortion – and he was waiting with curry and rice

‘I will never forget the way he looked at me that day’: Madison Griffiths on the aftermath of her medical abortion, and finding warmth and support from the man she shared her pregnancy with. Photograph: Elizabeth Livermore/Getty Images

In August 2021, I sat in the quiet waiting room of a Melbourne abortion clinic, my eyes cast lazily on the television as it screened the morning news. A text message from Domenic*, the man I shared my pregnancy with, sat unanswered on my phone screen. He was checking in, insistent I let him support me through this. He knew I would be taking the first handful of abortion pills today, and the second tomorrow.

I was reluctant to respond. I didn’t know what to say. I had known Domenic for only a handful of months. We met via Tinder during a brief two-week reprieve from lockdowns, our budding relationship bookended by social isolation, job insecurity and now the stress of an unwanted pregnancy.