Lena Dunham: I Wish I Had Abortion To Better Understand Women’s Rights

On the latest episode of her podcast Women of the Hour, actress and writer-director Lena Dunham stirred up controversy when she said “I wish I had” an abortion.

Dunham shared an anecdote about her visit to a Texas Planned Parenthood years ago during which a girl asked her to share her experience with abortion. She then recognized her own internalized stigma surrounding the procedure.

“I sort of jumped,” she said. “‘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 that it was important that people know that I was unblemished in this department…Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”

In the wake of the comment, Dunham has since apologized in an Instagram post, saying that the latest podcast episode was “meant to tell a multifaceted story about reproductive choice in America, to explain the many reasons women do or don’t choose to have children and what bodily autonomy really means” and that she hopes a “distasteful joke on [her] part won’t diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated.” She also pledged to make a sizable donation to abortion funds in New York, Texas and Ohio. Read her full Instagram post below.

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Dunham’s TV show “Girls” returns for its sixth and final season on Sunday, February 12 only on HBO.

My latest podcast episode was meant to tell a multifaceted story about reproductive choice in America, to explain the many reasons women do or don’t choose to have children and what bodily autonomy really means. I’m so proud of the medley of voices in the episode. I truly hope a distasteful joke on my part won’t diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated. My words were spoken from a sort of “delusional girl” persona I often inhabit, a girl who careens between wisdom and ignorance (that’s what my TV show is too) and it didn’t translate. That’s my fault. I would never, ever intentionally trivialize the emotional and physical challenges of terminating a pregnancy. My only goal is to increase awareness and decrease stigma. I take reproductive choice in America more seriously than I take literally anything else, and therefore own full responsibility for any words I speak that don’t convey this truth clearly. I know plenty of people will never like a thing that leaves my lips, mea culpas or no, but this apology is for the women who have placed their trust in me. You mean everything to me. My life is and always will be devoted to reproductive justice and freedom. You know how in some households you curse and have to put money in a jar? Well in mine, if you mess up your pro-choice messaging you have to give a sizable donation to abortion funds (https://abortionfunds.org/need-abortion) in New York, Texas and Ohio 💰I look forward to fighting with you all for the next four years and beyond.

A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Dec 20, 2016 at 6:39pm PST