December 21, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Lena Dunham has apologized for saying she hasn't had an abortion but wishes she'd had.
“So many people I love – my mother, my best friends – have had to have abortions for all kinds of reasons,” the actress said on a podcast last week. “I feel so proud of them for their bravery, for their self-knowledge…Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”
Dunham was promptly shredded by the left and the right on Twitter.
Does Lena Dunham also wish her mother had had an abortion? What an incredibly sad thing for her to have said. We should pray for her.
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) December 21, 2016
Lena Dunham. Saying that you haven't had an abortion but you wish you had so you can somehow “empathize”? Way to make pro-choicers look bad
— Linz DeFranco (@LinzDeFranco) December 21, 2016
Finally something both liberals and conservatives can agree on.
We're all sick of Lena Dunham.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) December 20, 2016
Lena Dunham already sexually abused a child and now she wishes she'd killed one too. “Disturbed” doesn't begin to describe this woman.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 21, 2016
How callous do you have to be to wish for the traumatic experience of abortion that many women still face today? I'm honestly so disgusted..
— NANA JIBRIL �� (@girlswithtoys) December 20, 2016
me: I'm pro life
friend: I'm pro choice
[substantive discussion]Someone: I'm pro-life
Lena Dunham: I wish i had an abortion
����������������������— Shoshana Weissmann (@senatorshoshana) December 20, 2016
@lenadunham saying what she did about abortions made me so enraged I was physically sick. You're disgusting, hurtful and should be ashamed.
— Shelby (@ShelbyDivine) December 21, 2016
How Lena Dunham can stand there and say she wishes she had had an abortion is vile and offensive. An abortion isn't some sort of gift.
— soph (@sophiemerriner) December 21, 2016
@lenadunham Did you stop to think of hurtful this is to women who actually went thru the process or women who struggle to conceive? Idiot. https://t.co/BBCItSNQEW
— Esanyc84 (@esanyc84) December 20, 2016
saying that you wish you had an abortion is not only offensive to women who have had one, it's borderline sociopathic, @lenadunham
— maggie (@mantispants) December 20, 2016
Lena Dunham says she's never had an abortion, but wishes she had. Did it not occur to her how offensive that is to women who have?
— dark & twisty (@JocelynDonna) December 20, 2016
Dunham posted an apology on Instagram and promised to give a “sizable donation” to abortion funds.
“My latest podcast episode was meant to tell a multifaceted story about reproductive choice in America, to explain the many reasons women do or don't choose to have children and what bodily autonomy really means,” she wrote. “I truly hope a distasteful joke on my part won't diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated. 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 TV show is too) and it didn't translate. That's my fault. 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. I take reproductive choice in America more seriously than I take literally anything else, and therefore own full responsibility for any words I speak that don't convey this truth clearly.”
According to the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, Christmas can be an especially difficult time for those who are hurting after abortion. Silent No More and Project Rachel both have a multitude of free resources available for those seeking help after abortion.