Uma Thurman praised for sharing personal story about teen abortion trauma

‘This law is yet another discriminatory tool against those who are economically disadvantaged, and often, indeed, against their partners’ actor wrote in an op-ed

Uma Thurman is receiving praise for hitting out against Texas’ abortion laws, in a new op-ed column for The Washington Post that shared her own personal experience.

The 51-year-old star said that she has followed “with great sadness and something akin to horror” the implementation of the law that bans abortions when fetal cardiac activity is detected — long before many women are even aware that they’re pregnant.

The Pulp Fiction star revealed how she was impregnated by “a much older man” as a teenager while away from home and acting in Europe.

“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. I wanted to keep the baby, but how?” she wrote.

Thurman said it was decided “as a family” that she could not go through with the pregnancy, and that termination was the right choice.

“My heart was broken nonetheless,” she said. “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.”

Many fans, including reproductive justice activist Renee Bracey Sherman, praised Thurman for sharing her story.

“Thank you for speaking out, Uma Thurman,” Sherman wrote on Twitter.

Another fan wrote: “I adore you with my whole heart Ms Uma, I applaud your strength and kindness.”

In Texas, abortion providers are now prohibited from performing a procedure if they can detect foetal heart tones, something the ban describes as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac”.

The law allows no exceptions for rape or incest. It is now in effect but is being challenged in court.