AN ANONYMOUS woman has raised a difficult moral question by ultimately holding her unborn baby ransom unless she receives $US1 million in donations.

The woman, believed to be from the US, has set up a website which is ostensibly an offer to “pro-lifers” to prevent an abortion. If she reaches her million dollar target, she said she will go through with the pregnancy and put the child up for adoption.

“I am a twenty-six-year-old female and I am currently 7 weeks pregnant. I have every intention of having an abortion, but I’m giving you a chance to stop it,” her online appeal reads.

She said she will not keep any of the money for herself and the full amount will go into a trust fund for the child which they can access when they turn 21.

If she doesn’t reach her target, all donations will be automatically refunded.

The woman says she is enrolled in a graduate program and appears to disagree with the strict abortion laws imposed in her state and says she is worried about the “backward direction” of the country when it comes to the treatment of women.

The donation period will only last three days, to coincide with a state mandated “cooling off” period of 72 hours for all women who seek to undergo an abortion procedure.

“On July 7th I will start accepting donations on this page. I will accept donations for 72 hours, the same amount of time this state currently requires a woman to wait after a consultation with a doctor until she can have an abortion,” she said.

“If one million dollars is raised in those 72 hours then I’ll have the baby, give it up for adoption and every cent of that one million dollars will be put in a trust fund for the child.”

She has already booked the abortion for the 10th of July, so at this point, the woman believes it’s up to pro-life advocates to put their money where their mouth is.

“Mathematically this means that every one of the 157 million Americans that identify as pro-life needs to donate less than one cent to stop this abortion,” she said.

Abortion laws have historically been an extremely incendiary issue in the US with certain factions of the religious right violently opposed to the procedure.

Unsurprisingly, using the fate of a foetus to pull what ultimately amounts to a political stunt has angered some people.

Pro-life bloggers have called the website “blackmail” and others have referred to it as a “ransom note”. While numerous people online have expressed scepticism over the whole thing and believe the woman is merely running a scam.

President of a pro-life advocacy group, Lila Rose appeared on talk show Dr Drew to express her criticism of the 26-year-old. “This website that this woman’s putting up about killing a child in 72-hours disturbs us because we know it’s a child, it’s a baby,” she said.

But those on the other side of the debate have been highly critical of the restrictions around abortion including the 72 hour waiting period which exist in Missouri, South Dakota, Utah and North Carolina.

Dr Leah Torres is an outspoken advocate for abortion rights and works at one of the only clinics to offer the procedure in the conservative state of Utah.

She believes such laws “undermine the doctor patient relationship” and send the message that pregnant women are not smart enough to make the decision. “Which is insulting and ridiculous at the same time,” she told news.com.au.

“Making them wait is traumatising.”

As for the anonymous woman at the centre of the debate, she said she wants to give the American people “a concrete example” amid all the fiery rhetoric around abortion laws.

“The conservative right in America doesn’t actually care about the life of a child, they care about controlling the lives and choices of women. We have to acknowledge this and we have to stop it,” she said.

She may not be expecting to raise all the money, but if does she believes the money is secondary to the message.

“I’ll keep none of the money for myself so if I am to be vilified in this process, it can’t be for that.”