In a personal essay for The Washington Post, Uma Thurman shared her own personal experience of abortion.
As a teen, she was raped by a much older man while working in Europe. Some months later, she found out she was pregnant and she decided to terminate the pregnancy.
“The hardest decision of my life” said Uma. “It 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.”
Thurman, now a mom of 3, added: “Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be.”
Uma decided to share her story in response to Texas’ restrictive SB8 abortion law, which prevents all abortions (with no exceptions for rape or incest) after six weeks and incentivizes people to report those they suspect of performing abortions by offering a minimum reward of $10,000 if their lawsuit is successful.
“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.”