Uma Thurman is using her voice to oppose the abortion ban in Texas.
The 51-year-old actress opened up publicly about her darkest secret in an op-ed published by Washington Post on September 21. The actress revealed for the first time that she had an abortion in her “late teens” after she got pregnant by an older man while on acting gig abroad. She had the abortion in Germany.
According to her, it was the hardest decision of her life and she felt responsible to share her story in support for the women affected by the new law in Texas which bans abortion after six weeks and allows its private citizens to sue those who provide abortion.
She wrote, “There is so much pain in this story. It has been my darkest secret until now. I am 51 years old, and I am sharing it with you from the home where I have raised my three children, who are my pride and joy. My life has been extraordinary, at times filled with heartbreak, challenge, loss and fear—just like so many women’s lives—but also marked, like theirs, by courage and compassion.”
She went on to talk about her “beautiful, magical children” who were conceived with “men whom I loved and trusted enough to dare to bring a child into this world.” She shares two kids with ex-husband Ethan Hawke namely Maya, 23, and Levon, 19. She also has a daughter with ex Arpad Busson named Luna, 9.
“I have no regrets for the path I have traveled,” she wrote. “I applaud and support women who make a different choice. The abortion I had as a teenager was the hardest decision of my life, one that caused me anguish then and that saddens me even now, but it was the path to the life full of joy and love that I have experienced.”
Uma explained that her goal for writing the essay was to offer hope to “women and girls who might feel a shame that they can’t protect themselves from and have no agency over.”
The actress also referred to the abortion ban as a “staging ground for a human rights crisis for American women.”
She concluded, “To all of you—to women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatized and hounded by predatory bounty hunters; to all women outraged by having our bodies’ rights taken by the state; and to all of you who are made vulnerable and subjected to shame because you have a uterus—I say: I see you.”
