‘This Is Us’ actor Milana Vayntrub opens up about her abortion: ‘I immediately knew the right thing to do’
‘Birth was bearable because I had chosen it,’ she wrote of having her first child a decade after the procedure
Milana Vayntrub, the actor who portrayed Sloane Sandburg in This Is Us, has opened up about getting an abortion 10 years ago, urging others to support reproductive rights in the US.
Vayntrub explained in an essay for The Daily Beast that she got pregnant for the first time after accidentally missing her birth control on one or two occasions. At the time, she was living with her boyfriend “in an apartment [she] could barely afford” and working a series of jobs.
“I immediately knew the right thing to do was to have an abortion,” she wrote. “There was no handwringing, no confusion, no sleepless nights. I’ve always had a strong moral compass ... In this case, all was silent. My compass pointed very clearly in the direction of not bringing a child into the world that I did not want and could not care for.”
Vayntrub was able to get the procedure done safely in her doctor’s office within the next two weeks.
“My abortion story is uncomplicated and straightforward, based on a decision that was all my own,” she added. “I understand this is a privilege. I also understand that access to abortion should never be a privilege; it should be a protected right.”
The actor said welcoming her first child last year underlined for her the need to preserve reproductive rights and access to safe abortions.
“For me, birth was bearable because I had chosen it,” she wrote. “I could only manage the nausea, pain, and expenses (financial and emotional) of pregnancy because I wanted a child.”
Vayntrub referenced efforts by abortion rights opponents in the US to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that protected abortion rights around the country in 1973.
She mentioned the Women’s Health Protection Act, proposed legislation that would protect the right to access abortion care.
“I’m calling my senators and urging them to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. I hope you’ll join me,” she wrote. “We need to get their attention every way we know how – email, letters, calls, protests, and, of course, that one precious vote we each have.”
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