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Entertainment December 21, 2016
After receiving a flood of backlash for wishing she’d had an abortion, Lena Dunham has admitted that she’s sorry.
“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 show is too) and it didn’t translate. That’s my fault,” she wrote on a recent Instagram post. “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.”
READ MORE: The Abortion Documentary Everyone Needs to Watch
On her latest podcast of “Women of the Hour,” Dunham told her listeners of a time she was asked to share her abortion story at Planned Parenthood. In an effort to discuss the stigma around the procedure, the 30-year-old actress and writer pointed out that she has never had an abortion.
Dunham then discussed how she felt she was “carrying the stigma” against the practice by being proud of never having an abortion. So in trying to relate to women – such as as her mother – who have had an abortion, Dunham said, “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”
Immediately after the episode aired, audiences criticized her for being “offensive” about the gravity of the procedure.
In response to these criticisms, Dunham has recently clarified and stressed her pro-choice stance on Instagram.
READ MORE: Pope Francis Extends Power to Forgive Abortion: ‘This Is a Time of Mercy’
“I take reproductive choice in America more seriously than I take literally anything, and therefore own full responsibility for any words I speak that don’t convey this clearly,” she wrote on her Instagram post. “My life is and always will be devoted to reproductive justice and freedom.”
Later in the apology post, she also revealed how she made a “sizable” donation to abortion funds in New York, Ohio and Texas, where funding for Planned Parenthood is currently at risk of being removed from Medicaid.
Dunham also regularly stands up for women’s rights on her various social media platforms and on her hit TV show, “Girls.” Though the HBO show is nearing its end, its six-season run has been important in bringing the seriousness of topics like abortion, sexual relationships and reproductive rights to the mainstream media.
READ MORE: ‘Girls’ Final Season Trailer Is ‘Last Chance to Get It Almost Right’ (VIDEO)
“Girls” works to destigmatize abortion by making it a normal choice and conversation topic in a woman’s life. In one episode, for example, one of the characters, Mimi-Rose Howard, plainly states to her friends, “I can’t go for a run because I had an abortion yesterday.”
In this way, “Girls” joined the ranks of TV shows that have had a character follow through with an abortion and have dealt with the subject openly and positively. As one of the first shows to do this, “Girls” paved the way for other series such as CW’s “Jane the Virgin” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” to join the dialogue, one that shows women making levelheaded decisions about their reproductive choices.
And to stress her support for the women who have undergone abortions, Dunham closed her apology letter by writing, “I look forward to fighting with you all for the next four years and beyond.”
READ MORE: Obama Administration Moves to Protect Planned Parenthood
