Lena Dunham apologizes for 'distasteful' abortion remark

NEW YORK, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Lena Dunham is apologizing for her recent remarks on abortion.

The 30-year-old actress said in an Instagram post Tuesday that she never meant to "trivialize" the experience of terminating a pregnancy by declaring last week that she wishes she'd had an abortion.

"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 have children and what bodily autonomy really means," Dunham 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," she explained. "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," the star insisted. "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."

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. I'm so proud of the medley of voices in the episode. 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. I know plenty of people will never like a thing that leaves my lips, mea culpas or no, but this apology is for the women who have placed their trust in me. You mean everything to me. My life is and always will be devoted to reproductive justice and freedom. You know how in some households you curse and have to put money in a jar? Well in mine, if you mess up your pro-choice messaging you have to give a sizable donation to abortion funds (https://abortionfunds.org/need-abortion) in New York, Texas and Ohio 💰I look forward to fighting with you all for the next four years and beyond.
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A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Dec 20, 2016 at 6:39pm PST

Dunham was hosting her Women of the Hour podcast last week when she recounted attending a Planned Parenthood event where a girl asked her if she'd had an abortion. She ended the story by suggesting she would like to have had one in order to better advocate women's rights.

"'I haven't had an abortion,' I told her. I wanted to make it really clear to her that, as much as I was going out and fighting for other women's options, I myself had never had an abortion," Dunham recalled.

"I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. Even I, the woman who cares as much as anybody about a woman's right to choose, felt that it was important that people know that I was unblemished in this department," she admitted.

"Now I can say that I still haven't had an abortion, but I wish I had," the actress said.

Dunham is best known as the creator and star of the HBO series Girls. The show, which co-stars Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet, will return for a sixth and final season Feb. 12, 2017.