The former girlfriend of NRL Penrith Panthers star Bryce Cartwright was allegedly paid $50,000 to have an abortion when she fell pregnant in August last year, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Seeking to be known only as “Miss X” by the paper, the former girlfriend detailed how she felt “pressured” by both Cartwright and a rugby league “fixer” who was called in to help negotiate the abortion deal.
The 24-year-old told the paper she wants to tell her story to stop “this awful bullying” happening to others, after the duo broke up when she fell pregnant. They had begun dating a few months earlier in April.
Miss X names club intermediary Lou Zivanovic as the “fixer” who she claims pressured her into the deal to terminate the baby, and says she has since given the money to charity.
“I felt I had no other option than to get rid of the baby, the pressure was relentless,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “I was bullied by Bryce and Lou. They showed no compassion towards the baby and me.”
She added that she believed it was about “rugby league more than anything else”.
“He said ‘look this is not a personal thing; I have known Bryce for 15 years’. I said, ‘You must be a family friend or an uncle’ and he said ‘No, this is really a business thing,’” she said.
