Seven times celebrities shared their experience of getting an abortion

On Friday 24th June the Supreme Court voted to overturn the historic Roe v Wade ruling, which had made abortion legal across the United States. Now, millions of women’s lives are at risk as many states have taken immediate action, banning abortions in their state.

In May a leaked document from the court revealed the majority of Supreme Court Justices were planning to support the overturning of Roe v Wade. A report, which has now been confirmed, after Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn it.

After the leaked documents came out many people on social media, shared their thoughts condemning the potential ruling, and a number of people shared their own experiences of getting an abortion including singer Phoebe Bridgers.

Over the years celebrities in the UK and US have shared their abortion stories, usually to show their support for abortion services. These are all the celebrities and reality stars who have shared their experiences of abortion:

Phoebe Bridgers

Following the leaked Supreme Court documents in May Phoebe Bridgers shared her own abortion story on Twitter.

She said she had an abortion last year whilst she was on tour and used Planned Parenthood to access it.

Phoebe tweeted: “I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour. I went to planned parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access.”

As part of her tweet she included a list of organisations to donate to who help fund and arrange abortions throughout the different US states. You can find the list here.

Jameela Jamil

Over the years Jameela Jamil has been very candid about her experience of abortion. In 2019 she said deciding to get an abortion was “the best decision” she’d ever made and earlier this week she shared a post on her Instagram saying abortion saved her life.

On Twitter in 2019 she tweeted: “I had an abortion when I was young, and it was the best decision I have ever made. Both for me and for the baby I didn’t want, and wasn’t ready for, emotionally, psychologically, and financially. So many children will end up in foster homes, [and] so many lives [will be] ruined.”

And on Instagram earlier this year she wrote: “Abortion saved my life. It was not hard for me, I live with zero regret, only deep relief and gratitude.”

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling Jameela took to Instagram to express her thoughts on it and asked who would be paying for the unwanted babies.

She said: “Who is gonna pay for all these unwanted babies? Who is giving out free healthcare to people forced to follow through on pregnancies? Who is going to better fund the adoption system? Who is going to pay for the food, shelter and educations of these forced children? Or the therapy of the rape victims and children forced to carry pregnancies to term?”

Jemima Kirke

In 2015 Sex Education’s Jemima Kirke shared her abortion story as part of a campaign video by the Centre of Reproductive Rights in the US.

Jemima revealed she had an abortion in 2007 when she was in college. She said: “I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be attached to this person for the rest of my life.

“My life was just not conducive to raising a happy, healthy child. So, I decided to get an abortion.”

As part of her appearance in the video Jemima also spoke about the cost of getting an abortion and how she chose not to have an anaesthetic during the procedure because she couldn’t afford it.

She said: “I did have to empty my checking account – what I had in there – and get some from my boyfriend. I realised if I didn’t take the anaesthesia, I would be able to afford to do this. And the anaesthesia wasn’t that much more, but when you’re scrounging for however many hundreds of dollars, it is a lot.

“I just didn’t have it. It’s the obstacle and this stigma that makes these things not completely available… But there are little hoops we have to jump through to get them.”

Keke Palmer

In 2019 Keke Palmer shared her experience of abortion in response to Alabama’s strict abortion ruling.

Writing on Twitter she said she got an abortion as she was worried about balancing her career and being a mum.

She said: “I was worried about my career responsibilities and afraid that I could not exist as both a career woman and mother. Twitter is sometimes too flat and too short to express intimate sentiments — words without context [can be] very annoying.

“I am disheartened about hearing the news in Alabama. I feel as if women rights laws are going backwards. Individual choice is being taken. I’m truly so confused at the world [right now] and the policies that follow.”

Nicki Minaj

As part of an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014 Nicki Minaj revealed she had an abortion when she was a teenager.

She said she thought was going to die and had nothing to offer a child at that time.

Nicki said: “I thought I was going to die — I was a teenager. It was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through. It’d be contradictory if I said I wasn’t pro-choice — I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have anything to offer a child.”

Anna Vakili

Former Love Island contestant and influencer Anna Vakili revealed she had an abortion whilst speaking on her podcast “Sisters in City”.

Anna said she had the abortion when she was 21 years old after having unprotected sex. She said: “When I was younger – about 21, I was having unprotected sex – I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking, and I ended up pregnant.

“Obviously I was really young and I wasn’t ready, and I had an abortion. At that age you don’t think what can happen and I have deep regrets that I did end up pregnant.”

Anna went onto say she didn’t receive sex education at school as her parents didn’t consent to her sitting in the classes.

On the podcast she said: “In school the teachers sent a letter home for our parents to sign to say if it was ok for us to sit in sex education, and my parents didn’t sign it and it was the most embarrassing thing ever because the teacher took me out of the class when they did sex education.”

Olivia Attwood

In 2019 ex-Love Islander Olivia Attwood condemned Alabama’s restrictive abortion ban and shared her own story of getting an abortion at 20 years old.

Olivia said getting an abortion was one of the most “sensible” decisions she’d ever made and she couldn’t believe the restrictions that were set to come into effect.

On Instagram she wrote: “I can’t believe the stuff I have read going on in the States. Having an abortion when I was 20 is one of the few sensible decisions I have made in this life, and I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to not have had that option.”

Olivia shared her story alongside a graphic with a pie chart depicting the reasons women have abortions. Each segment of the pie chart was labelled “nobody’s business”.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•So it turns out most Russell Group universities have pro-life societies

•‘It’s about so much more than only abortion’: American students on the impact of Roe v Wade

•What does Roe v Wade being overturned actually mean?