Lena Dunham: "I Wish I had an abortion"

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There are a few things actress Lena Dunham has been able to proudly check off her bucket list: appear naked on television (a lot), take a toilet selfie, dress as a “grabbed p*ssy” to protest Donald Trump. But there’s one thing she has never done in her life, and it is really starting to bug her: have an abortion.

Dunham revealed her deep regret in a story she told during her podcast, Women of the Hour, last week:

“I’m a pro-choice woman. From an early age, [my mom] taught my younger sibling and me to say ‘anti-choice’ instead of ‘pro-life’ because she wanted to make sure that we knew that everyone is pro-life. Some people are anti-choice.”

“I always thought that I myself didn’t stigmatize abortion. I’m a – uh abortion rights activist, it’s a huge part of who I am. But one day, when I was visiting a Planned Parenthood in Texas a few years ago, a young girl walked up to me and asked me if I’d like to be a part of her project in which women share their stories of abortions. I sort of jumped. ‘I haven’t had an abortion,’ I told her. I wanted to make it really clear to her that as much as I was going out and fighting for other women’s options, I myself had never had an abortion.

“And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. Even I, the woman who cares as much as anybody about a woman’s right to choose, felt it was important that people know I was unblemished in this department.”

“Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had,”

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