Uma Thurman is voicing her opposition to Texas' abortion ban by opening up about her painful past.
In a Washington Post op-ed published on Tuesday, Sept. 21, the 51-year-old Pulp Fiction star shared publicly for the first time that she had an abortion in her "late teens" in Germany after she was impregnated by a significantly older man while living overseas for an acting gig.
Calling the abortion "the hardest decision of my life," Uma wrote that she felt a responsibility to share her own experience as a show of support for women in Texas who will be affected by the new law.
"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."
Uma praised the "beautiful, magical children" she has since conceived with "men whom I loved and trusted enough to dare to bring a child into this world." The star shares Maya, 23, and Levon, 19, with ex-husband Ethan Hawke, and shares Luna, 9, with ex Arpad Busson.
"I have no regrets for the path I have traveled," she wrote. "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."
Uma added that she personally has nothing to gain and "perhaps much to lose" from the emotional essay, but that her goal was to provide hope to "women and girls who might feel a shame that they can't protect themselves from and have no agency over."
The Oscar-nominated performer went on to refer to the Texas abortion ban as a "staging ground for a human rights crisis for American women." The state's controversial law bans abortions after six weeks and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers.
"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," she wrote.