19 Oct 2015

Nauru refugee did not see doctor - lawyer

4:54 pm on 19 October 2015

A Somali refugee returned to Nauru after it was claimed she changed her mind about an abortion, says she did not see a doctor and received no counselling while she was in Australia.

A handwritten note from a Somalian refugee in Nauru, who has become pregnant after being allegedly raped, and is seeking a termination in Australia.

A handwritten note from a Somalian refugee in Nauru, who has become pregnant after being allegedly raped, and is seeking a termination in Australia. Photo: Facebook / Change.org

She became pregnant after she was allegedly raped on Nauru and was brought to Australia for a termination, but the Australian government secretly flew the 23-year-old on a chartered jet on Friday, without the abortion having taken place.

She has since sent her lawyer, George Newhouse, a letter which states that she never saw a doctor, and that she has never said that she did not want a termination.

Mr Newhouse told the ABC that his client was in no fit state to do anything.

"She'd lost ten kilograms, she was unfit to fly to Australia, it took two days in emergency in the Nauruan hospital to get her in a fit state to come to Australia, and what she simply had said to the nurse at Villawood, was that I can't have the operation today, I'm not well enough mentally and physically, I'll tell you tomorrow, or the next day."

George Newhouse, the lawyer representing the Somali woman.