Washington (AFP)

In a rare gesture, American actress Uma Thurman reveals she had an abortion in her youth, exposing her "darkest secret" in support of Texas women banned from terminating their pregnancies.

At 51, the star of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill dared to break this taboo, still very strong in the United States, in a poignant article published Wednesday by the Washington Post daily.

She explains that she followed "with deep sadness and a feeling close to horror" the entry into force of the Texan law which, since September 1, bans almost all abortions in this vast conservative state.

Faced with this "radical" text which does not provide for an exception in the event of incest or rape, the actress has decided to share her experience publicly for the first time "in" the hope of deflecting the flames of the controversy of vulnerable women affected by this law ".

Uma Thurman, who started a modeling career when she was 15, explains that before she turned 20, she became pregnant with an older man, while in Europe away from her family.

"I wanted to keep the baby, but how?"

In a "terrible" conversation with her parents, this "childish fantasy of motherhood" dissipated, she says.

The relationship was "unsustainable", "my career was just starting, I couldn't afford a stable home, even for myself. We decided as a family that I couldn't continue my pregnancy."

- "No regrets" -

With the help of a friend, she traveled to Cologne, Germany, to have an abortion.

"It hurt terribly, but I didn't complain, I was so ashamed that I thought I deserved this pain ..."

Abortion rights activists gathered in front of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2021 in Washington Mandel Ngan AFP / Archives

“The abortion of my teenage years was the most difficult choice of my life, it caused me deep pain at the time and still saddens me today,” she continues.

But "I have no regrets": "he opened the way for me to a life full of joy and love. Choosing to terminate this pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted to be ", writes the actress who then had three children.

Today, she is "heartbroken" in the face of Texas law, "a tool to discriminate against disadvantaged women" since the richest will be able to travel out of state to obtain an abortion.

The text "pits citizens against each other", she still regrets.

Texan law, which is the subject of several legal proceedings, in fact includes an unprecedented device: it is not up to the authorities to enforce the measure, but "exclusively" to citizens, encouraged to lodge a complaint against organizations or people who help women with abortions.

- "Thank you" -

"I have nothing to gain from these confessions and maybe a lot to lose," said Uma Thurman in her forum.

Almost 50 years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling "Roe v. Wade", which recognized women's right to abort, nearly 40% of the population still believe abortions should be illegal in most cases. , according to the Pew Institute.

Anti-abortion activists are very present on the ground and on social networks, and family planning actors regularly denounce the pressure exerted on their doctors or on women who consult their clinics.

In this context, Uma Thurman's text provoked reactions at opposite ends.

“Thank you Uma Thurman for sharing your story,” tweeted the National Women's Law Center.

A hanger, symbol of illegal abortions, brandished during a demonstration for the right to abortion, on May 21, 2019 in West Hollywood (California) Robyn Beck AFP

She "is happy to have killed a baby," criticizes the news site of opponents of abortion LifeNews.

Before her, other American stars, like Madonna or Nicki Minaj, dared to break the taboo.

In a collection, actress Whoopi Goldberg gave the most poignant testimony, recounting that at age 14, she used a hanger to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Their number remains far from the signatories of the "Manifesto of 343", published in France in 1971, in which 343 women, including Simone de Beauvoir or Catherine Deneuve, admitted having clandestinely aborted.

The text had contributed to the shift in public opinion and the adoption of a law legalizing abortion.

© 2021 AFP