Uma Thurman reveals she had an abortion as a teen in op-ed

Uma Thurman has revealed she had an abortion as a teenager in an op-ed about the "radical antiabortion law" in Texas.

The 51-year-old shared her experience in an op-ed for The Washington Post, in response to a restrictive new abortion law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month.

"I have followed the course of Texas's radical antiabortion law with great sadness, and something akin to horror. Now, in the hope of drawing the flames of controversy away from the vulnerable women on whom this law will have an immediate effect, I am sharing my own experience," Thurman began.

The Kill Bill actress explained how she found herself pregnant in her late teens by a "much older man." She described the time after finding out, during which she called her parents, who warned her of the difficulties of raising a baby "as a teen on my own."

"We decided as a family that I couldn’t go through with the pregnancy, and agreed that termination was the right choice. My heart was broken nonetheless," she shared, revealing she got her abortion in Germany. "(The procedure) hurt terribly, but I didn’t complain. I had internalized so much shame that I felt I deserved the pain."

"There is so much pain in this story. It has been my darkest secret until now," she continued. "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. Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be."

Thurman, who has three children, went on to harshly criticise the Texas law, which is the most restrictive within the country and does not include provisions for rape and incest, calling it "another discriminatory tool against those who are economically disadvantaged."

She concluded her op-ed by sending a message to women and girls in the state, writing, "To all of you - to women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatized and hounded by predatory bounty hunters; to all women outraged by having our bodies' rights taken by the state; and to all of you who are made vulnerable and subjected to shame because you have a uterus - I say: I see you. Have courage. You are beautiful. You remind me of my daughters."