An American woman who documented her abortion live on the internet says she stands by her decision despite being threatened and labelled a "whore".

Angie Jackson, a former cult member and mother of a four-year-old boy with special needs, said in a five-minute video posted on YouTube that she was trying to "demystify" the abortion process so other women would understand it was not a shameful secret.

Controversial ... Angie Jackson.

Jackson, who goes by the name Angie the Anti-Theist on the internet, documented her abortion on micro-blogging site Twitter after taking the abortion drug RU-486 while she was four weeks pregnant.

"I'm doing this so that other women know, 'hey', it's not nearly as terrifying as I had myself worked up thinking it was," the 27-year-old said in the video, which has been viewed almost 79,000 times.