Woman vows to never get pregnant due to 'horrifying' phobia of birth

11 March 2024 , 11:34

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Samantha King, 35 (Image: Samantha King/SWNS)

A woman has vowed to never conceive a baby - due to a rare phobia of giving birth which started due to teen pregnancy fears.

Samantha King, 35, says she will never to try for a baby due to her tokophobia - a pathological fear of pregnancy which can lead to avoidance of childbirth. The travel blogger claims her mum "put the fear of God" into her when it came to teen pregnancy and her fear escalated.

She says she now finds the prospect of falling pregnant "horrifying", the thought of an unborn baby moving inside her "gross" and giving birth "scary". Samantha, from Adelaide, Australia, said: "Since I was younger, mum put the fear of God into me and told me to not get pregnant at 15 or 16.

"The fear has just grown as I've grown. The thought of being pregnant gives me the heebie-jeebies. From what I've been told, you can feel the baby moving inside you and the whole idea of giving birth is gross and scary." Samantha isn't keen on the other effects pregnancy can have too.

Samantha King has vowed to never get pregnant or have a baby (Samantha King/SWNS)

She said: "Your body has been changed for the rest of your life and then you get stuck with the child forever." She stressed that she doesn't dislike children, thinking they're "cute" and "funny" sometimes. She said: "But it's the whole process of being pregnant and having to deal with all the side effects, like the morning sickness and the pains. I look at a pregnant person and think they look nice, and glowing and happy.

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"But I've had friends that are pregnant and I don't want to touch their belly or get involved in any of that." Samantha - who has a dog - doesn't think she'll ever be able to give birth to a child of her own. She said: "I think I could probably foster or adopt a child, but the whole process of being pregnant freaks me out too much."

Over time, she hopes her fear could potentially be reduced with therapy, but she isn't convinced it will go away entirely. "Being pregnant is a beautiful thing," Samantha said. "A lot of women who really want to unfortunately don't have that opportunity, and there are some women that absolutely love being pregnant. I just couldn't think of anything worse."

Samantha King (Samantha King/SWNS)

Samantha also feels her love of travel means her lifestyle wouldn't be compatible with having a family. "I work a lot and spend time with the dog, and travel when I can," she said. Samantha is currently single but says she tells potential partners about her phobia when the relationship becomes serious. She said: "I'm fairly upfront with people when a relationship gets to the point where it may become serious.

"I let them know that I'm terrified of getting pregnant and that there is a high chance that I won't have children. Most have been fairly accepting as at our age they might already have children with someone else. I've only have one guy that got a little upset as he wanted children, but respected my choices and we parted ways. I would never want to stop someone from having their own children."

Tabitha Wilson