Lena Dunham stirred up controversy during a recent episode of her podcast by saying she wishes she’d had an abortion.
While hosting Women of the Hour, the Girls creator recalled a visit to a Texas Planned Parenthood years ago, during which a girl asked her to share her experience with abortion.
“I sort of jumped. ‘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,”recalled Dunham, 30.
“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.”
She commended her loved ones, who have had to have abortions, for their “bravery” and “self-knowledge,” adding that she has realized her need to put her own stigma surrounding the issue “in the garbage.”
She concluded, “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”
Listeners soon took to Twitter to accuse the actress of trivializing an “awful” procedure.
.@lenadunham FYI an abortion is not something you "get to have." It's an awful experience one SHOULDN'T wish for like a gift from Santa
Saying you wish you'd had an abortion is the stigmatizing action here @lenadunham Abortion is a HARD choice to make, not a trip to get froyo
“I can’t even imagine how offensive Lena Dunham’s comments are to women who actually had to go through abortions,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another person tweeted: “FYI an abortion is not something you ‘get to have.’ It’s an awful experience one SHOULDN’T wish for like a gift from Santa.”
This is not the first time Dunham has come under fire in recent months. She faced backlash in September for accusing NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. of ignoring her at the 2016 MET Gala because of her looks.
In an interview with Amy Schumer for her Lenny Letter newsletter, Dunham detailed an alleged incident in which the athlete allegedly “looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards.”