In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Tuesday, actress Uma Thurman detailed her experience having an abortion as a teenager to slam Texas' abortion legislation, S.B. 8, that took effect this month. S.B. 8, known as the "heartbeat" law, bans abortions upon fetal heartbeat detection, which occurs roughly six weeks into pregnancy.
In the op-ed, Thurman, now 51, explained that she had an abortion overseas when she was a teenager. She was "living out of a suitcase" in Europe, pursuing her acting career, when she became impregnated by a "much older man." After a phone call with her parents, she opted for an abortion. She went to a doctor in Germany to have the procedure done. "It has been my darkest secret up until now," Thurman wrote in the piece.
"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," the op-ed reads. "Choosing not to keep that pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be."
Then, Uma fired off on Texas' abortion law, slamming the Supreme Court – and its "lack of ideological diversity" – for allowing S.B. 8 to go into effect and said that it hurts people who are "economically disadvantaged" while "wealthy" individuals "face little risk."
"The Texas abortion law was allowed to take effect without argument by the Supreme Court, which, due in no small part to its lack of ideological diversity, is a staging ground for a human rights crisis for American women," the op-ed reads. The day S.B. 8 took effect, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold the law after pro-abortion advocacy groups submitted an emergency request asking the Court to strike it down.
"This law is yet another discriminatory tool against those who are economically disadvantaged, and often, indeed, against their partners. Women and children of wealthy families retain all the choices in the world, and face little risk," Thurman continues. "To women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatized and houses 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."
Texas' S.B. 8 allows citizens to pursue legal action against anyone who provides an illegal abortion or abets a woman seeking an illegal abortion. Individuals who successfully bring lawsuits under S.B. 8 can be rewarded up to $10,000.
Since the law took effect this month, the Department of Justice is pursuing a federal lawsuit against the state of Texas to challenge it. This lawsuit came after President Biden issued remarks promising a "whole-of-government" approach to challenge the legislation.