Celebrities Who Have Shared Their Abortion Stories to Help Women Feel Less Alone

Kerry Washington

The Emmy-nominated actress and mother of three, 46, wrote in her new memoir, Thicker Than Water, that she had an abortion when she was in her 20s.

"I struggled a lot in the beginning with whether or not to include my abortion story," Washington told PEOPLE. "At first I wasn't really sure how it fit into this story of my life. But I started to feel like it was really important for me to share this."

The Scandal actress revealed she had a romantic encounter that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy, shortly after the success of Save the Last Dance in 2001. To protect her privacy, Washington gave doctors a fake name.

"This story had so much to do with my understanding of myself and the world as my career unfolded," she said.

Another reason she chose now to share her experience now: "It's just so important to me that abortion is not a bad word, and that my abortion is not another thing on the list of things that I'm ashamed of."

Washington added, "We're at a moment where it's really important to be telling the truth about our reproductive choices because some of those choices are being stripped away from us."

Britney Spears

In her memoir The Woman in Me, Britney Spears recalls becoming pregnant with Justin Timberlake's baby — and though initially conflicted, making the decision with Timberlake to end the pregnancy.

"Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young," she writes in the book.

Reflecting on the process, Spears writes, "I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father ... To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life."

Paris Hilton

While the Paris in Love star was discussing the importance of using her platform to support reproductive rights, Hilton opened up about her decision to terminate a pregnancy that she "was not ready for" in her early 20s.

"This was also something that I didn't want to talk about because there was so much shame around that," Hilton said in an interview with Glamour UK. "I was a kid and I was not ready for that."

She felt compelled to use her celebrity and speak out following the Supreme Court's decision to repeal Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion.

"I think it is important," she told the outlet. "There's just so much politics around it and all that, but it's a woman's body… Why should there be a law based on that? It's your body, your choice and I really believe in that.

Chrissy Teigen

"Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Jack, John and my third child, I had to make a lot of difficult and heartbreaking decisions. It became very clear around halfway through that he would not survive, and that I wouldn't either without any medical intervention," Teigen explained in September 2022 at an event, per Entertainment Tonight.

In the past, when speaking about her loss, the cookbook author labeled it a pregnancy loss, though at the event she clarified for the first time that she had had a life-saving abortion.

"Let's just call it what it was: It was an abortion," she said. "An abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance. And to be honest, I never, ever put that together until, actually, a few months ago."

"I fell silent, feeling weird that I hadn't made sense of it that way," Teigen continued. "I told the world we had a miscarriage, the world agreed we had a miscarriage, all the headlines said it was a miscarriage. And I became really frustrated that I didn't, in the first place, say what it was, and I felt silly that it had taken me over a year to actually understand that we had had an abortion."

Jennifer Grey

The actress alluded to her own experience with abortion in her memoir, Out of the Corner, in which she discussed her rebellious moments as a teenager.

"When I try to imagine my own daughter at 16, playing house, essentially living with a grown-ass man, doing tons of blow, popping Quaaludes, and going to Studio [54] — not to mention being lied to, cheated on, then gifted with various and sundry STDs and unwanted pregnancies, it makes me feel physically ill," she wrote. "No teenager should be swimming in waters that dark."

"I feel so emotional," the actress told the Los Angeles Times after the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. "Even though I've seen it coming, even though we've been hearing what's coming, it doesn't feel real."

Grey told the Times that though she was careful with birth control and felt empowered by her sexual freedom as a young adult, making the decision to have an abortion took a toll on her.

"It's such a grave decision. And it stays with you," she admitted, before assuring it was the right decision for herself.

"I wouldn't have my life. I wouldn't have had the career I had, I wouldn't have had anything," Grey added. "And it wasn't for lack of taking it seriously. I'd always wanted a child. I just didn't want a child as a teenager. I didn't want a child where I was [at] in my life."

Torrey DeVitto

The Chicago Med alum was 21 and had just started having success in her acting career when she found out she was pregnant.

"I remember I was sitting in my bedroom and I was with my boyfriend at the time and we were both pretty dumbfounded. We were shocked," DeVitto recalled to PEOPLE in 2022. "I think the two of us just didn't know what to do and I remember feeling like really dizzy. I was in this surreal moment and I was like, How did this happen? What do I do?"

She and her boyfriend agreed that an abortion was the right choice for them, and she flew to Michigan, where her mom lived, for the procedure. But though she initially kept quiet about it, fearing the stigma, DeVitto tells PEOPLE she has "reclaimed" her voice about it.

"Now that I'm older and more aware of the world and don't really give a s--- what people think anymore, especially the opposite sex trying to control my rights, I've really taken ownership and feel like this is my story," she says. "And if you don't like it, you can see yourself out the door, because it just doesn't matter to me anymore. I know in my heart of hearts, I made the best decision."

Halsey

The "Without Me" singer penned an open letter that was published in Vogue on July 1, 2022, and said abortion "saved my life."

"Many people have asked me if, since carrying a child to term after years of struggling to do so, I have reconsidered my stance on abortion," Halsey wrote. "The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it."

"My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his," Halsey continued. "Every person deserves the right to choose when, if, and how they have this dangerous and life-altering experience. I will hold my son in one arm, and fight with all my might with the other."

The pop star welcomed son Ender Ridley with partner Alev Aydin in July 2021.

Noting that they had "miscarried three times before my 24th birthday," the singer explained, "It seemed a cruel irony that I could get pregnant with ease but struggled to maintain a pregnancy."

"One of my miscarriages required 'aftercare,' a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention," the singer added.

"During this procedure, I cried. I was afraid for myself and I was helpless. I was desperate to end the pregnancy that was threatening my life."

Hilarie Burton

The One Tree Hill alumna shared a photo of her daughter George, 4, playing on Instagram in June 2022, recalling in the caption that she had an abortion after a pregnancy loss.

"It is no secret I struggled with infertility," she wrote. "Losing multiple pregnancies before her was traumatic. But female bodies are all different and unpredictable."

She continued, "Having an abortion after my fetus died allowed for my uterus to heal in a way that made it healthy enough to carry future pregnancies. It doesn't matter if you use the term D&C. The official word on the hospital paperwork is abortion. That's what it was."

Burton went on to say the "painful day" would have been "worse" if abortions were illegal "and law enforcement inspected my body to make sure I hadn't caused my own miscarriage. Cause that's what's coming."

"[Roe] V Wade protected my rights as a woman to have miscarriages without scrutiny," Burton said, adding that she's received messages from her supporters who have also suffered pregnancy losses.

Lily Allen

On June 30, the singer wrote on her Instagram stories, "I wish people would stop posting examples of exceptional reasons for having abortions. Most people I know, myself included, just didn't want to have a f---ing baby. AND THAT IS REASON ENOUGH! WE DON'T HAVE TO JUSTIFY IT. It shouldn't have to be said, and I think all these examples just play into the hands of the baddies."

Laura Prepon

The Orange Is the New Black star revealed that she and husband Ben Foster decided to terminate their second pregnancy together (a year after welcoming daughter Ella) after discovering the fetus' brain and bones were not developing, and carrying it further would put her at risk.

Prepon's recovery — physically and mentally — took a while, but with the support of friends and her husband, she conceived again and welcomed a baby boy in 2020. "It put into perspective what a blessing it is to have a healthy child," she said.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, she further opened up about the experience, writing on Instagram, "One of the worst days of my life was when I made the choice to terminate a pregnancy in the second trimester."

"The devastating truth is that we found out the fetus would not survive to full term, and that my life was at risk as well," she explained. "At the time — I had the choice."

Prepon continued, "Everyone has their own story for seeking out this medical procedure and I empathize with anyone who's been faced with this impossible decision."

"I am praying for all of us, that we can get through this challenging time and regain agency over our own bodies," she concluded.

Rita Moreno

After the Supreme Court made the decision on June 24 to overturn Roe v. Wade, the West Side Story star opened up to Variety about a botched abortion she suffered while pregnant with then-boyfriend Marlon Brando's baby, in the days before 1973's Roe v. Wade was decided in favor of the constitutional right to an abortion.

The 90-year-old told Variety that although abortion was illegal at the time, the late Brando "found a doctor through some friends," adding: "He was a real doctor — Marlon paid him $500 — as opposed to something in a back alley."

She later suffered bleeding and learned that the abortion was incomplete.

"Marlon took me to the hospital. I had what they told me was a 'disturbed pregnancy,'" Moreno recalled. "The doctor didn't do anything really, except make me bleed. In other words, he didn't do it right. I didn't know it then, but I could have died. What a mess. What a dreadful mess."

Jill Zarin

Following the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the former Real Housewives of New York star shared her story.

"I had an abortion when I was in my late teens," she said on Instagram. "And my life would have been so dramatically affected. It was my right to choose, and how dare anybody take that right away from me. I just ... we're going to have to go vote. We're going to have to get judges who believe women have the right to choose."

Brandi Glanville

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star was on Watch What Happens Live! alongside Jill Zarin when the subject of Zarin's Instagram post came up. When host Andy Cohen asked Glanville if she had an abortion, she confirmed that she had, when she was 17.

On Twitter, Glanville elaborated further on her story, writing "I don't have any shame about my abortion & thank God I had a choice. I was 17 a senior in high school I was in an emotionally abusive relationship and I was on birth control pills and I still became pregnant. I had a choice & I was still a child myself."

Cheryl Burke

The Dancing with the Stars pro took to TikTok after Friday's decision to discuss the abortion she had at 18, explaining that she "wouldn't have been a great mother" and "was going through a really huge transition" at the time.

"I was practicing safe sex. I was using protection and I was on birth control and s--- happens," she said. "I was two weeks pregnant when I got an abortion. I remember rolling up to Planned Parenthood with picketers holding anti-abortion signs and that alone was traumatic. But, on top of it all, the whole process is traumatic and the fact that now, you're making it illegal for us women to make this decision about our own bodies is absolutely insanity."

Added Burke: "It's nobody's business and honestly, I'm happy that I made that decision. I have no regrets, there's no shame behind it. I've just chosen to share it now, but that doesn't mean that there was any shame."

Phoebe Bridgers

After news broke in May 2022 that the Supreme Court planned to vote to overturn Roe V. Wade, Bridgers posted on her Instagram Story about her abortion.

"I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour," she wrote. "I went to planned parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access." She then added a link with places to donate to help other women have access when in need.

Ginger Zee

In her memoir, the Good Morning America meteorologist opened up about the mental health challenges she faced after getting an abortion early in her career, in hopes of reducing the stigma around both for women going forward.

"[The day after my abortion] is when the epitome of shame and the hormonal drop-off started coming together, and my inability to share with others — because I told no one. I mean, I had one person in my life that knew what had gone on, and I was telling nobody else," she told The Washington Post. "That isolation is what led me to, I think, in part, the darkest days of my life. And they just kept getting darker. And I do think that hormones were part of it, but I think that the guilt and shame were what overtook me."

Now, she said, she is willing to be open about it because she's healed from the trauma and wants to help others. "I really want to tell my story, because I know that it is going to help someone else and impact someone else," she added.

Ashley Judd

At the 2019 Women in the World summit, the actress revealed that one of her three rapes had resulted in conception, and she had been grateful to have had the option to terminate that pregnancy.

"I'm very thankful I was able to access safe and legal abortion. Because the rapist, who is a Kentuckian, as am I, and I reside in Tennessee, has paternity rights in Kentucky and Tennessee. I would've had to co-parent with my rapist," she said. "Having safe access to abortion was personally important to me and, as I said earlier, democracy starts with our skin. We're not supposed to regulate what we choose to do with our insides."

Ireland Baldwin

In a TikTok video she posted on June 26, 2022, captioned "I'm here for you," the model spoke about her own experiences, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Baldwin revealed, "I was raped when I was a teenager and I was completely unconscious when it happened and it changed the course of the rest of my life."

Baldwin went on to say she didn't tell "anyone" except for a nurse who treated her shortly after it happened, including her boyfriend at the time or even her parents, Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin.

"I kept that secret inside of me for years, and because I did, it caused a lot of hurt and a lot of pain to me and to people I love," she said.

Later in her life, Baldwin said, she got pregnant unexpectedly with her boyfriend at the time, whom she was "very unhappy" with, "and he made it pretty clear that he never wanted kids or marriage. He barely wanted to be in a serious relationship."

"I chose to get an abortion because I know exactly what it felt like to be born between two people who hated each other," she shared.

Baldwin said "maybe, maybe not" when addressing whether she could have had the baby and put him or her up for adoption, "But choosing to raise a baby without my own financial security, without a loving and supportive partner, that wasn't gonna work for me."

"I chose me, and I would choose me again. It's your life, it's your choice," she concluded.

Amanda de Cadenet

While six weeks pregnant more than 10 years ago, de Cadenet says her safety was suddenly at risk due to an incomplete miscarriage. She began to lose blood unexpectedly and was at risk of a life-threatening infection. Doctors said she would need to have a procedure to remove the remaining fetal tissue.

On her Instagram in June 2022, she posted a black-and-white photo of herself in a hospital bed with the message, "This is me in the ER room in 2003."

"I was 6 weeks pregnant and hemorrhaged so badly on a flight from LA to NYC I had to be taken off the plane in a wheelchair. I went straight to the hospital, where I was given an ultrasound and told I had an 'incomplete miscarriage'. The only objective at that point was to stop me losing more blood."

She continued, "The treatment for a miscarriage that your body won't release is classified as an abortion if there is a heartbeat or a D&C if there isn't. I'm so grateful the E.R team along with myself and then boyfriend (now my husband ) could immediately make the choice that prioritised my safety without having to consider if the procedure was illegal, and if the Dr would be prosecuted for making sure I was safe."

"That choice is now not an option in at least nine states, with trigger laws in others set to take effect in the coming days," de Cadenet concluded, along with the hashtag "#BansOffOurBodies."

Meadow Walker

The daughter of the late Paul Walker revealed that she had an abortion in 2020, opening up about the experience in an Instagram post.

The 23-year-old sympathized with other women who've struggled with the decision to get an abortion. "I too have battled with the choice but in 2020, when the world was collapsing during the pandemic, I sought an abortion."

"It is a very private and personal experience — the way it should be. I was lucky enough to have a great doctor who supported me through the debilitating process — with their help, I am able to be the happy and healthy person I am today," Walker added.

Debbie Reynolds

A clip of the late Old Hollywood icon talking to Joan Rivers about her experiences with fetal loss in the years before legal abortion has recently gone viral (in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade) due to the horrific experience she had to go through of being seven months pregnant when "the baby died inside of me," but being forced to carry it to term because "it had to abort itself — it could not be taken from me."

"I had to carry the child full term, knowing it was dead," Reynolds said, adding that at parties people would ask her, "How's the baby? What name are you going to name it?"

She was finally allowed to have the fetus removed after "some board" agreed that Reynolds was experiencing serious health complications, only to have the exact same thing happen to her with her subsequent pregnancy.

Uma Thurman

In a personal essay for The Washington Post, the actress shared her own experience of being impregnated as a teen by a much older man while working in Europe, and making "the hardest decision of my life" to terminate the pregnancy.

"[It] caused me anguish then and that saddens me even now, but it was the path to the life full of joy and love that I have experienced," Thurman, now a mom of three, wrote. "Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be."

She decided to share her story in response to Texas' restrictive SB8 abortion law, which prevents all abortions (with no exceptions for rape or incest) after six weeks and incentivizes people to report those they suspect of performing abortions by offering a minimum reward of $10,000 if their lawsuit is successful.

"To all of you — to women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatized and hounded by predatory bounty hunters; to all women outraged by having our bodies' rights taken by the state; and to all of you who are made vulnerable and subjected to shame because you have a uterus — I say: I see you," she wrote. "Have courage. You are beautiful. You remind me of my daughters."

Katie Maloney-Schwartz

On Vanderpump Rules, the star and her now-estranged husband Tom Schwartz visited a fertility clinic, which led them to discuss an abortion Katie had about 10 years ago, in the very early days of their relationship.

"I knew I wanted to have kids," Katie said on the show. "But I just knew that was not the time in my life."

The couple has no regrets now, with Tom saying they "made the decision at the time," and now they're fully ready and committed to be parents.

Most importantly, Katie says: "Everyone, every woman, every person should be able to decide what's best for them."

April Love Geary

The model, who has three kids with fiancé Robin Thicke, said she decided to speak out after getting critical messages on Instagram.

"I've been getting a bunch of DMs saying things like 'how could you support abortion when you're a mother yourself' so this is MY body, MY body after having an abortion in 2014, a miscarriage in 2017, delivering a baby in 2018 and 2019," she wrote, along with a photo of her stomach. "I'm glad I was able to make decisions about MY body without facing any type of punishment."

She opened up a bit more about her story in early 2021, saying on her Instagram stories, "I knew I wouldn't be able to provide a good life for this child. It just wasn't the right time for me. I don't regret it."

"Do what you gotta do," she added. "It's your body. It's your life."

Lala Kent

In her 2021 book Give Them Lala, the Vanderpump Rules star shared that she terminated an unplanned pregnancy in her early 20s, because "it was not the right situation to bring an innocent life into."

She initially wasn't sure whether she should include it, but in the end it was important to her to normalize the conversation and break the stigma.

"I ping-ponged back and forth [about whether to share it] and finally it was like, this is something that needs to be spoken about," she told ET. "And I feel like we are where we are in this world because people are so nervous to talk about things that make them uncomfortable. So we're mentioning it, we're talking about it and people can love it, hate it, or learn something from it. It is what it is."

Stevie Nicks

In response to the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, the iconic singer opened up to The Guardian about her "generation's fight" for legal and safe abortions — as well as her own pregnancy termination in 1979.

"If I had not had that abortion, I'm pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac," Nicks said. "There's just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. I would have had to walk away."

Now in her 70s, Nicks never had children — but she has no regrets. "I knew that the music we were going to bring to the world was going to heal so many people's hearts and make people so happy. And I thought, 'You know what? That's really important. There's not another band in the world that has two lead women singers, two lead women writers.' That was my world's mission."

Alyssa Milano

The actress revealed that she chose to have two abortions more than 25 years ago on an episode of her podcast, Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry.

Milano shared her personal experience with abortion — which she says happened twice in 1993, within months of one another, when she was in her early 20s.

"I knew at that time, I was not equipped to be a mother, and so I chose to have an abortion," said Milano. "I chose. It was my choice. And it was absolutely the right choice for me."

"It was not an easy choice," she continued. "It was not something I wanted, but it was something that I needed, like most health care is."

The now-mother of two has not only spoken out about the restrictive abortion laws that were recently passed by legislators, but has also fought against the bills by calling for women to go on a sex strike.

Hannah Gadsby

The Australian comedian shared her stance on Alabama's controversial abortion law before revealing that she had an abortion after surviving rape.

"They're getting away with it because they've got into the branding really well. It's not 'pro-life,'" she said during her 2019 Variety Pride Issue cover story. "What a stupid f--- statement! I'm 'pro-life,' but I had an abortion. That sits very comfortably in my head as a duality."

"Had I been in that state, under these laws, under these politics at that time in my life, I would be dead. It's as simple as that," Gadsby continued. "I was assaulted, raped, and very, very vulnerable. How was I going to raise a child? I would have ended up dead. How is that pro-life? You can't say women can't have abortions and then provide absolutely no infrastructure to help them."

Keke Palmer

Palmer said she felt "disheartened" about a law passed in Alabama that effectively bans abortion.

The actress tweeted that she decided to get an abortion because it was not a good time in her life to raise a child.

"I was worried about my career responsibilities and afraid that I could not exist as both a career woman and mother," she tweeted, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Palmer has since deleted the tweet, and explained that the topic may have been too nuanced to express on Twitter.

"Twitter is sometimes too flat and too short to express intimate sentiments. Words without context, very annoying," she wrote in a new tweet. "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."

Palmer also added #youknowme to the end of her tweet, the hashtag Busy Philipps started to encourage women to share their abortion stories.

The Berlin Station star also said that her or anyone else's decision to have an abortion does not affect their religious beliefs.

"Making individual choices is not a betrayal to your faith," she said. "Mainly, because God knows your heart and your journey. God never judges. I hate that it's always a this vs that, instead of an 'I understand YOUR PERSPECTIVE.'"

Linsey Godfrey

After Busy Philipps created the #youknowme hashtag to encourage people to share their abortion stories in order to bring awareness to the fact that 1 in 4 women under 45 have had the procedure, The Bold and the Beautiful's Godfrey used the hashtag to tell her story.

"I had an abortion. I just simply wasn't in a place, financially or emotionally to take that on," the actress revealed on Twitter.

"I was and still am glad I had that choice because that's exactly what it was, it was my choice, my body."

Amber Tamblyn

The actress and author also used the #youknowme hashtag to share her own story.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. I still think about it to this day," Tamblyn wrote on Twitter. "But these truths do not make me regret my decision. It was the right choice for me, at that time in my life. I have not a single doubt about this."

Tess Holliday

The model not only used the #youknowme hashtag to share her story, but she also used it to highlight how abortions affect communities beyond cis women and heterosexual couples.

"I'm from Mississippi, living in California, married with 2 kids, & I had an abortion," Holliday wrote on Instagram.

"My mental health couldn't handle being pregnant again & I made the best decision for ME & ultimately my family," she added, later mentioning that the majority of abortions in Alabama in 2017 were sought by women in relationships, who were already parents at the time.

Holliday also quoted friend and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon to remind her followers that abortions affect more people than just women.

"Abortion is a queer issue. Abortion is a trans issue. Abortion is a non-binary issue," the quote stated. "A lot of people still mistakenly believe that only cis women & heterosexual people can get pregnant / have abortions & this rhetoric erases queer women, trans men, and non-binary people who have a disproportionately difficult time accessing abortions."

She ended her post with the hashtag, "#abortionisahumanright".

Ani DiFranco

In an essay shared with LitHub from her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream, the singer reflected on reproductive freedom in general as well as two abortions she herself had as a young woman.

"I have had two abortions, I have borne two children," she wrote. "I used to periodically count the ages that my first two children would've been if they had entered the world as such. It wasn't that I was wistful... It was an exercise in the terrifying math of the near miss. Your life as you envisioned it could have effectively ended three, five . . . ten years ago."

She added, "Women make these calls based on so many things that men can only begin to speculate about. Every situation is unique and every woman is right when she decides what is right for herself. At the core of a belief in reproductive freedom is an affirmation of diversity. ... Reproductive freedom must be understood as a civil right."

Minka Kelly

In response to Alabama's controversial abortion law, which bans nearly all abortions, including for victims of rape or incest, Kelly wrote a lengthy Instagram post to share her story and to call out every member of the Alabama state senate who voted for the bill for not doing enough to protect women.

"When I was younger I had an abortion. It was the smartest decision I could've made, not only for myself & my boyfriend at the time, but also for this unborn fetus," Kelly wrote, alongside a photo of all 25 Alabama state senators who voted for the bill.

"Having a baby at that time would have only perpetuated the cycle of poverty, chaos and dysfunction I was born into."

The actress continued her note by asking the senators, "If you insist on forcing women to carry to term, why do you refuse to talk about comprehensive sex-ed, the maternal mortality rate, free daycare, paid maternity leave?"

Kelly maintained her stance that women's "lives, traumas & family planning is for no one to decide but us" and asserted that if men's bodies, health and life were called into question, "we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place."

She concluded her post by sharing her appreciation for men who have spoken up on this issue and reminded her followers that "women do not get pregnant alone" and "outlawing abortion has never stopped women from attempting it."

Ali MacGraw

The actress, a superstar in the '70s, made the cover of PEOPLE when she was one of several women who shared their personal experience with abortion more than a decade after Roe vs. Wade was decided to illustrate how dangerous, lonely and dark procuring an abortion was for women before the ruling.

"A lot of people think an abortion is something a woman does casually, like changing the color of her hair. But I defy anybody to tell me that she has had a casual abortion. There is nothing casual about it. It's a horrific decision to make," MacGraw said, adding that she had been using birth control correctly but it failed.

"Once you made the decision to have an abortion in those days, the process became humiliating and terrifying. You started with the horror of the underground network of telephone calls. Unless you were rich, that is. It was easier to get a safe, clean abortion if you had money... It breaks down right from the beginning to economics," she continued, before detailing her heartbreaking experience.

Busy Philipps

On an episode of Busy Tonight, the late-night host shared her experience with abortion in response to the signing of Georgia's controversial abortion law.

"I had an abortion when I was 15 years old and I'm telling you this because I'm genuinely really scared for women and girls all over the country," Philipps said while getting visibly emotional.

"Is that a hard left turn?" she asked, comparing the topic of abortion to the regular pop culture topics on her show. "Yeah, it is. Is it kind of jarring? Yes, it is also kind of jarring. But, guess what? That's what being a f--- woman is. Having a regular Tuesday and then suddenly being reminded that people are trying to police your body. And then you just have to go back to work."

She later asked women to share their stories on Twitter, using the hashtag #youknowme.

This isn't the first time Philipps has talked about her abortion: the actress previously opened up about it in her memoir This Will Only Hurt a Little.

Jameela Jamil

Jamil shared her story on Twitter, also in response to the Georgia bill.

"This anti-abortion law in Georgia is so upsetting, inhumane, and blatantly demonstrative of a hatred of women, a disregard for our rights, bodies, mental health, and essentially a punishment for rape victims, forcing to carry the baby of their rapist," she wrote alongside a link to a Slate article that stated that Georgia had just criminalized abortion.

"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. So many lives ruined. So very cruel."

Milla Jovovich

The actress shared her story on Instagram in May 2019 as a response to the Georgia bill, too.

"I don't like to get political," she wrote, opening up about her 2017 "emergency" abortion. "I went into pre term labor and told that I had to be awake for the whole procedure. It was one of the most horrific experiences I have ever gone through. I still have nightmares about it. I was alone and helpless. When I think about the fact that women might have to face abortions in even worse conditions than I did because of new laws, my stomach turns."

"I spiraled into one of the worst depressions of my life and had to work extremely hard to find my way out," she continued. "I took time off of my career. I isolated myself for months and had to keep a strong face for my two amazing kids."

"Abortion is a nightmare at its best. No woman wants to go through that. But we have to fight to make sure our rights are preserved to obtain a safe one if we need to," she said.

"I never wanted to speak about this experience. But I cannot remain silent when so much is at stake. #prochoice #prochoicegeneration."

Nicki Minaj

In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, the rapper said she thought she "was going to die" when she discovered she was pregnant as a teen.

"It was the hardest thing I'd ever gone through," she said of having an abortion. "[It's] haunted me all my life. 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."

She alluded to the experience in a track on her album, The Pinkprint.

Joan Collins

The Dynasty star opened up about why she never regretted having an abortion after she got pregnant in her mid-20s with then-fiancé Warren Beatty.

"It would have been absolute career death for me to have done that... it would have been unthinkable to have a child," she told Piers Morgan in a 2010 interview.

"He didn't have any money, I had nothing, and I believe if you are going to bring a child into the world that you have to have a responsibility to that child," she added.

Whoopi Goldberg

The View's Goldberg wrote about her teenage abortion experience in an essay for Angela Bonavoglia's The Choices We Made.

"I found out I was pregnant when I was fourteen," she wrote. "I didn't get a period. I talked to nobody. I panicked. I sat in hot baths. I drank these strange concoctions girls told me about — something like Johnny Walker Red with a little bit of Clorox, alcohol, baking soda (which probably saved my stomach) and some sort of cream. You mixed it all up. I got violently ill. At that moment I was more afraid of having to explain to anybody what was wrong than of going to the park with a hanger, which is what I did."

Chelsea Handler

In a personal essay for Playboy's "Freedom Issue," Handler opened up about two abortions she had at age 16.

As a teen, Handler said she got pregnant after having unprotected sex with her boyfriend. "I just thought, 'Why not?' I can have a baby. Maybe I'll have twins and give them rhyming names," she detailed. "Of course, the idea that I would have a child and raise it by myself at that age, when I couldn't even find my way home at night, was ridiculous. My parents recognized that, so they acted like parents for one of the very first times in my life and took me to Planned Parenthood."

In a new revelation, she explained that she got pregnant once again later that year and was barely able to afford another $230, the cost of an abortion at Planned Parenthood.

"Getting unintentionally pregnant more than once is irresponsible, but it's still necessary to make a thoughtful decision," Handler wrote. "We all make mistakes all the time. I happened to f--- up twice at the age of 16. I'm grateful that I came to my senses and was able to get an abortion legally without risking my health or bankrupting myself or my family."

Margaret Cho

The comedian has included the topic of abortion in her standup routines in the past, but now she's revealing why.

"I talk a lot about abortion and people get really freaked out. I'm not even making a political statement. I'm just talking about what happened! I have had them and I want to talk about them," she told XOJane, as reported by Fortune.

"I don't care what your views are toward abortion, I just think women should be talking about it."

She also added, "If males had to have abortions, it would be something that was routinely discussed and the emotional life of it would be really examined."

Gloria Steinem

The feminist activist got very candid in an interview with NPR's Fresh Air host Terry Gross on becoming pregnant at 22 and having an abortion before it was legal.

"I had been doing all of the foolish things that we then did [to terminate a pregnancy], like riding horseback, throwing ourselves down stairs," she explained. "I am the most cowardly person you can imagine, physically speaking, but I did [throw myself down stairs] ... I was desperate. I really was desperate. I just knew that if I went home and married, which I would've had to do, it would be to the wrong person; it would be to a life that wasn't mine, that wasn't mine at all."

Maureen McCormick

The actress, best known for her role as Marcia on The Brady Bunch, wrote about her experience with abortion in her memoir Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, and spoke to PEOPLE about how her honesty helped her bond with her daughter Natalie.

"When I told her I had two abortions, her mouth dropped open. But then she looked at me and said, 'I know you're telling me this so I don't have to go through the same misery you went through,'" McCormick said.

"We had tears in our eyes and would just hug and hug."

Rosanna Arquette

In the wake of Alabama signing their abortion ban into law, the actress responded on Twitter: "I've had a couple of abortions in my life. It was my decision and Each time it was very sad ,hard and painful.

But It was my choice and I was lucky to have good care. no one has the right to take away a women's right to choose what's best for her."

Sharon Osbourne

Studies show that the majority of abortions are safe and effective, with rare complications, but The Talk cohost has said "something happened" during the procedure she had when she was 17 that has come back to "haunt" her.

"I had an abortion at 17 and it was the worst thing I ever did. It was the first time I'd had sex, and that was rotten. I'd always thought it was going to be all violins, and it was just awful," she told the Daily Mail in a 2004 interview.

Osbourne told her mother after realizing two months in that she was pregnant and without hesitation, her mother responded, "You have to get rid of it."

"She told me where the clinic was, then virtually pushed me off. She was so angry. She said I'd got myself in this mess, now she had to get me out," Osbourne continued.

"But she didn't come. I went alone. I was terrified. It was full of other young girls, and we were all terrified and looking at each other and nobody was saying a bloody word. I howled my way through it, and it was horrible," she added.

"I would never recommend it to anyone because it comes back to haunt you. When I tried to have children, I lost three — I think it was because something had happened to my cervix during the abortion. After three miscarriages, they had to put a stitch in it."

She concluded her story by saying, "In life, whatever it is, you pay somewhere down the line. You have to be accountable."

Sherri Shepherd

In a heated debate over abortion on The View, Shepherd got real with her cohosts to explain why women need to have the option if their circumstances are not right to raise a child.

"I'm speaking as a girl who has had a lot of abortions, and if they had showed me a fetus, I probably wouldn't have but I would have put my child in a lot of situations that wouldn't have been good because I didn't have the mental capacity to deal with having a child," she said.

Billie Jean King

Before her career took off, the tennis champion opened up about why she had an abortion during a hectic and confusing time in her life.

"The reason I had an abortion is because I was not in a good place," she explained during an interview with Makers.

"I was just finding out about my sexuality. I was trying to figure my life out. I was trying to get the tour started. I just did not want to bring a baby into the world."

King added, "If you bring a child into the world, then to me, he or she takes, they're first, that's it, done. I did not want the child to be born under the circumstances I was in."

Jemima Kirke

The artist and actress shared her story about having an abortion while in college, in support of Draw The Line, a campaign by the Centre for Reproductive Rights.

"In 2007, I became pregnant with my boyfriend at the time. 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 healthy, happy child. I just didn't feel it was fair," she said. "So, I decided to get an abortion and I went to Planned Parenthood in Providence, Rhode Island, where I was at school."

Kirke continued to explain how she had to empty her checking account to pay for the abortion and how the experience made her realize the importance of being able to talk about reproductive issues freely.

"I still see shame and embarrassment around terminating pregnancies, getting pregnant, I still see it," she said. "So I have always been open about my stories, especially with other women."

Vanessa Williams

The actress went on Nightline to discuss You Have No Idea, her 2013 joint memoir with her mother Helen. During the interview, Williams revealed two secrets she kept from her mother, up until they started writing the book together.

The first was that she was molested by an older girl; the next was that she had gotten pregnant in high school.

"Being pregnant is the most frightening thing that happens in your life," Williams said. "I knew in high school that's something that I was not prepared to do, or fight, or struggle with."

Lil' Kim

In 2000, the rapper told The Washington Post she had an abortion and wrote about it in her song "Hold On."

"Most of the things that I talk about [in my lyrics], yeah, they're true... I talk about the pain of being pregnant and having an abortion," she told The Washington Post. "I talk about the things that women have gone through that they don't think I've gone through."

The lyrics to the song, rumored to be about her relationship with the late Biggie Smalls, include "I believed that meeting you would be my destiny. Your love would come to set me free, so why am I left standing here alone. Won't you please come and take me home."

Naya Rivera

The late Glee actress penned an essay for USA Today to discuss the story behind her abortion and why she decided to write about it in her 2016 memoir, Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.

"I knew that in sharing my story, I would be judged for the decision I made. But I wanted to let other women facing the same difficult decision know that they weren't alone," she wrote, adding that she also did it in tribute to her grandmother Clara Esther White, who spent "more than five years counseling women through their decision to terminate their pregnancies," and her mother, who was also involved in everything from counseling to sterilizing equipment.

Rose McGowan

McGowan replied to a Twitter account that shared the statistic that "1 in 4 women has an abortion by age 45," to share her own story.

"I have had an abortion and I support this message. I am not ashamed, nor should you be. That 60% of those who choose to have abortions are already mothers says a lot— they understand more than anyone. I was on birth control and it failed," she wrote.

"I realized I could not bring a child into my world and simultaneously change the world. I do not regret my decision and it was not made lightly. If you do not want an abortion, don't get one. My body, my choice, my life. Have you had to make a choice? Let's talk and use hashtag #HonestAbortion."

Donna Karan

In 2015, the groundbreaking womenswear designer told HuffPost Live that in 1975, she became pregnant while married but having an affair, and didn't know whose child it was.

"I said, 'I can't even fathom doing this,' and abortion had just been legalized — it was that week," she recalled, saying that her husband at the time supported her decision to terminate the pregnancy.

"I know so many times that women really go, 'What do I do? How do I handle this?' and I wanted to show that I'm with them," she said. "I totally understand what it's like — I went through it."