Uma Thurman Shares 'Darkest Secret' In Intense Essay On Texas Abortion Ban

[kpete]

The “Pulp Fiction” star wrote in The Washington Post Tuesday that she felt compelled to share her own story about having an abortion “in the hope of drawing the flames of controversy away from the vulnerable women on whom this law will have an immediate effect. ... I feel it my responsibility to stand up in their shoes.”

Thurman said she was accidentally impregnated by a much older man while she was in her late teens. She discussed options with her family and eventually was given an abortion by a compassionate German doctor.

“There is so much pain in this story,” she wrote. “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. I conceived my beautiful, magical children with men whom I loved and trusted enough to dare to bring a child into this world. I have no regrets for the path I have traveled. 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. Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be.”

MORE:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/uma-thurman-essay-texas-abortion-law_n_614af476e4b0e5dd4b2dde40?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Harker]

1. That's brave.

It's tragic that there's ever been a stigma attached to the procedure.

[TeamProg]

2. This is what a sane, responsible person sounds like. I can just hear the wingnuts now:

"She's a Hollywood type!" Not a scant of critical thinking -that has been outlawed.


Most of humankind is doomed.

[gratuitous]

3. The flying monkey brigade will be after her soon

But Thurman is right that she's in a better position to draw the fire of these nutballs than others. Putting an actual person and their story on this (or any) issue diminishes the fear- and hate-mongers and their shoutycrackers twaddle.

[calimary]

4. Thank you, Uma. Thank you for speaking up and shining a light.

[FakeNoose]

5. This is heart-warming - it shows that all women need to be pro-choice

There's not a woman in America who has a reason to be anti-choice. It's that simple.

We can't be judges and executioners, when a woman who needs an abortion can only hope for sympathetic listeners and helping friends.

"There, but for the grace of God, go I."

"Don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes."

[Sucha NastyWoman]

6. It's good to hear from someone who is not a special situation

Such as a baby not likely to live much past birth, or endangered health of a mother who already has children, or rape or incest. All women deserve to make the choice that is right for them whatever her situation.

[CrispyQ]

15. +1 -- Perfectly stated! -nt

[Lisa0825]

7. I applaud her for sharing, but...

Last edited Wed Sep 22, 2021, 02:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Nevermind... I was mistaken. (see response below)

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Where does it say 15?

[Lisa0825]

9. Oh, sorry - I mis-read. The paragraph started with 15, but then said late teens.

Could still be 17. Big difference between 17 and 19, IMO.

"I started my acting career at 15, working in an environment where I was often the only kid in the room. 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. I wanted to keep the baby, but how?"

[RussellCattle]

10. The line here, that the born-again, anti-gay, RWNJs, who love marriage between....

....only a man and a women, should stop and consider for a while, is the one about loving and trusting someone enough to dare to bring a child into this world. Their position seems to abandon all of the “love, marriage, man, women, trust, two to raise a child” happy rhetoric that they pitch, when a rapist leaves a women with a zygote that she really does not want.

[ecstatic]

11. Some of the people backing the forced-birth law have probably had at least 1 too

Remember, they are the "Do AS I SAY, not as I do" party. Uma was wonderful and brave to share this, but qOP forced-birthers don't care. It's all about control, racism and misogyny for them.

[AlexSFCA]

12. we need mass coming out - women who had abortions

sharing their stories with families, friends, co-workers, etc. Well known women sharing is helpful too. This needs to be completely destigmatized and viewed a any other medical procedure.

[NH Ethylene]

13. Exactly! This should not be someone's darkest secret, but it is for many.

This needs the light of, just like the MeToo Movement showed everybody that virtually ALL women had been sexually assaulted in some way at some time in their lives.

[Rhiannon12866]

14. Her late teens? She graduated from the same high school that I did.