Uma Thurman shares her 'darkest secret' — getting an abortion as a teen, slams Texas law

Actor Uma Thurman has revealed that she had an abortion when she was just in her late teens, in the hope that it gives others the strength to take such decisions without feeling ashamed of it. Thurman opened up about what she described as her "darkest secret" in an op-ed for The Washington Post in the wake of the restrictive abortion law that came into effect from September 1 in the state of Texas. Thurman, 51, condemned the law that encourages vigilantism, by encouraging private citizens to sue those providing abortions or helping them. "I started my acting career at 15, working in an environment where I was often the only kid in the room," she wrote.

"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." Thurman discussed her options with her parents and realized that she was in no state to raise a child. She was just starting out as an actor and didn't have a stable home. They took a decision collectively as a family to terminate the pregnancy. "My heart was broken nonetheless," recalled the actor. She got an abortion in Cologne, Germany with the help of an older friend. Thurman said she internalized the shame of the abortion, telling herself that she deserved the pain. 

Looking back, she's realized that so many others could be in a similar position with no agency over their body and she's hoping her story gives them the strength they need to take the decision. "I have no regrets for the path I have traveled. The abortion I had as a teenager was the hardest decision of my life but it was the path to a 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," reflected Thurman, who's a mother to three children.

The Pulp Fiction actor said she was filled with a 'great sadness, and horror' after Texas passed the restrictive abortion law that could potentially deny many vulnerable people abortion. The actor said she was sharing her own abortion story because she felt it was her responsibility to speak up for vulnerable women. "I hope that 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," she wrote. Thurman made it clear that the law was designed to 'prey on disadvantaged women,' forcing them to bear children they are not in any way ready to take care of. She threw her weight behind women in Texas, letting them know that she's on their side and reminding them that they didn't need to feel shame because they had a uterus. 

The Texas Law provides a bounty of $10,000 to those who successfully sue people who provide abortions or provide help to access abortions. The Supreme Court failed to block the law, effectively side-stepping the ruling under Roe vs. Wade. The Justice Department has sued the state of Texas. "The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent," said Attorney General Merrick Garland, reported NPR. "Those precedents hold, in the words of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that 'regardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.'"

As we reported, the legality of the law is already being put to test after a doctor from San Antonio revealed that he had performed an abortion in violation of the law. He has been sued by two people after he opened up it. Dr. Alan Braid, wrote, "I fully understood that there could be legal consequences. But I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested."