Lena Dunham has apologised for a “distasteful” comment where she said she wished she had an abortion.
On her podcast Woman of the Hour, which was first aired last week, the Girls creator discussed the stigmas and issues surrounding abortion. Recalling a time where she felt she had internalised societies’ stigma of abortions she explained how she once immediately clarified to a woman at a Planned Parenthood meeting straight away that she, personally, had never had an abortion.
Reflecting on this, she said: “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”
Dunham immediately provoked criticism on social media with some accusing the feminist campaigner of harming the pro-choice movement while others reminded her that for some women getting an abortion can be a difficult decision.
In response to the backlash, Dunham posted a lengthy apology on Instagram on Monday evening where she branded her comment a “distasteful joke” and clarified she would not intentionally "trivialise the emotional and physical challenged of terminating a pregnancy".
“I truly hope a distasteful joke on my part won’t diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated [in the podcast],” she wrote. “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 trivialise 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 literally anything else, and therefore own full responsibility for any words I speak that don’t convey this truth clearly.”
She then suggested she would be donating to abortion funds in New York, Texas and Ohio and pledged to continue fighting for women’s right to choose.
