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A 27-year-old woman has been told she may never be able to have children after having a shocking 17 abortions in the space of six years.

Doctors say the woman, named only as 'Xiao Ju', may now be infertile because her uterus is so badly damaged after all the procedures.

Zhao Qin, head of gynaecology at Shiyan Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in China, said she had implored the pregnant woman to keep her child - because it may have been her last chance at motherhood.

However, the 27-year-old insisted on the procedure, leaving Zhao and her colleagues no choice but to perform what was the patient's 17th abortion in just six years.

(Image: AsiaWire / HBSYFY)

Xiao Ju had her first abortion when she was 21, the year she began dating her current boyfriend of six years, with whom she apparently does not use any contraception.

Since then, medics say she has become a "regular customer" at the hospital's gynaecology department, averaging nearly three abortions per year.

Doctor Zhao realised the severity of Xiao Ju's physical condition while examining her for her latest procedure.

She said: "I found her uterus lining to be critically thin, like a piece of paper, due to the repeated abortions she had had.

(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

"Her uterus was also badly scarred."

Zhao said she advised the patient to keep her child, telling her: "If you don't have to have this abortion, then keep this baby, because it may be very, very difficult for you to get pregnant again."

However, the patient said she did not plan to get married and does not have the ability to raise a child, insisting that the abortion take place.

The medic added: "It might've been her most precious child."

A thin endometrial lining - the membrane lining the uterus - can lead to recurrent miscarriages, and therefore difficulty reaching late-stage pregnancy.