Uma Thurman opens up about having abortion as a teen and condemns Texas abortion law
The actor shares her "darkest secret" in response to the recently passed law
Aux News Abortion
In a column for the Washington Post, actor Uma Thurman shares her personal experience having an abortion as a teenager, while also condemning the abortion law recently enacted in Texas. In the op-ed, the Pulp Fiction actor hopes that in sharing her story “some light will shine through, reaching women and girls who might feel a shame that they can’t protect themselves from and have no agency over.”
The Texas law (Senate Bill 8) bans abortion after six weeks, which is before many women even know they’re pregnant. The state also encourages a form of vigilante justice, where anyone who helps an individual seeking an abortion can face legal repercussions, including private citizens, doctors, and even ride share drivers. A person can file a lawsuit against an abortion provider whether they have a connection to the woman who received an abortion or not. If an individual is successful in suing an abortion provider, they will be awarded a minimum $10,000. The bill does not allow exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of incest or rape. Following the enactment of the bill, the Supreme Court sought no challenge, opening the door for other conservative states to pass their own bills.
“This law is yet another discriminatory tool against those who are economically disadvantaged, and often, indeed, against their partners,” Thurman writes in her piece. “Women and children of wealthy families retain all the choices in the world, and face little risk. I am grief-stricken, as well, that the law pits citizen against citizen, creating new vigilantes who will prey on these disadvantaged women, denying them the choice not to have children they are not equipped to care for, or extinguishing their hopes for the future family they might choose.”
Thurman goes on to share her “darkest secret” in the column: That she received an abortion as a teenager, a few years into her acting career.
“I started my acting career at 15, working in an environment where I was often the only kid in the room,” she writes. “In my late teens, I was accidentally impregnated by a much older man. I was living out of a suitcase in Europe, far from my family, and about to start a job. I struggled to figure out what to do.”
Far from home, she called her parents to go over her options, and they decided as a family the best option was to terminate the pregnancy. Thurman says her “heart was broken nonetheless.”
“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,” she recounts. “Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be.”
Thurman went on to become one of the most iconic actors of the ‘90s following her role in Quentin Tarantino’s neo-noir film Pulp Fiction, before moving on to star in the director’s Kill Bill films. The 51-year-old actor now has three children, daughters Maya Hawke, Luna, and son Levon Roan, who she calls her “pride and joy.”
She closes her letter with a message to all those facing the law in Texas. “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. Have courage. You are beautiful. You remind me of my daughters.”
13 Comments
Kudo for putting herself out there.
Kill bill!
This everyone’s friendly reminder that according to current studies, more than 95% of the people who choose to have an abortion express no regrets five years later, with 84% reporting positive or neutral feelings about the procedure. The most commonly cited emotion throughout the study period was relief.Which is not to shade Uma or dismiss the ways even “mostly positive” feelings about such a personal choice can be nuanced and complicated. I just hate the cultural script that seems to require anyone who publicly admits to having an abortion to refer to it as “the hardest decision of [their] life.”
In which way you can have the certainty that she’s following a cultural script, so you feel able to correct her?
I believe in the possibility that it can be an extremely difficult decision to make that, afterwards, one could have neutral-to-positive feelings about as well as no regrets.
Absolutely! Like I said, not denying it’s complicated/multifaceted.I’d definitely be interested to learn more about how when people had their abortion (as in historical decade, not necessarily age) influenced the difficulty of the decision in terms of social stigma.
Thank you. I also like to point out that most people who have abortions already have children because there is a persistent narrative from pro-life groups that only those who are ignorant about motherhood and pregnancy would have an abortion.
It is a really complicated issue. When you’re going through it, it really is excrutiating for a lot of people. But after the fact, even though it was the worst time of my life personally, now, the only feeling is relief and that relief grows year over year as the magnitude of the garbage life I escaped settles in even deeper. I have a feeling this is the case most of the time. People who are trying to defend the rights to abortion are usually just trying to impart the depth of the feelings while going through it. If we all wrote it off as a “meh” experience I think it would be even easier for society to ignore than it already is. We’re trapped by the cultural need to have a narrative and emotional hook. It’s easier to garner sympathy and support with gripping tales of struggle and a large number of people are actively hostile towards the idea that abortions can actually be quite banal. And even if they should be accepted as a normal, everyday, not always traumatic occurrence, most people are doing a lot of mental gymnastics to make it fit in with whatever cultural/religious mores the were raised in, which makes them desperate for there to anything righteous or moral about it. At its core, abortion is a pretty neutral act. It’s people’s stupid minds that make it otherwise and that’s the game we have to play with it.
I had an abortion and it was a very easy decision, and a huge relief! Absolutely no regrets as I know my husband-to-be and I weren’t ready to be responsible parents.
I now have two adult sons who were always wanted and loved. (and I’m waiting for my Granddaughter to arrive at any moment!)
This law reminds me of the Fugitive Slave Act. And not in a good way.
Good for her dot gif
Thank goodness I lived in a state that allowed me to obtain the medical procedure of my choice in the early 90s. The moment I found out I was pregnant, I asked for an abortion — but had to wait a few weeks, because it was “too early”! I felt zero regret, not for one minute. I would do it again in a second. I have never wanted kids. And sometimes birth control lets us down. Thank goodness now I am too old! My heart absolutely breaks for all women of child-bearing age in Texas or in any other state where the right to your own damn body is superceded by Daddy Government. Gross. I cannot think of anything more horrifying. A forced pregnancy. Hello, Handmaid’s Tale!
Im not getting into the abortion debate here, but this law was written very cleverly. Basically the State of Texas is not involved, but a private citizen(s) can bring up a civil suit to stop the procedure. That’s how it gets around the RvW rule. Again, there is a bigger precedent going on, since if THIS model works, the same thing can be applied to curb our beloved 2nd amendment. And you know, Texas is not the state to start taking away gun rights. Texas: Be careful of what you started.