Jemima Kirke (Jessa from Girls) spoke publicly about abortion this week. It was reported by a number of gossip magazines, broadsheets and television press, that Jemima had filmed a video for the Draw the Line campaign. The campaign is run by The Center for Reproductive Rights. This US organisation campaigns for women to have access to safe, legal reproductive health care. The Draw the Line campaign encourages women to share their personal stories to remove the stigma associated with abortion.
Jemima Kirke has joined a number of other celebrities in supporting this campaign. Other celebrity supporters include Meryl Streep, Amy Poehler and Sarah Silverman. Jemima filmed a short video of her talking openly and honestly, without shame and embarrassment, about her abortion. You can watch her video here:
I chose to write about this news story this week thanks to a political hustings I attended at the weekend. One of the candidates, when asked about euthanasia, happened to mention that his religious beliefs prevented him from supporting this and (I’ve forgotten the exact wording he used) any changes to abortion law. There were no opportunities for a follow up question, so I didn’t get to find out his exact views on abortion. Would he support further restrictions on abortions, like those suggested by Conservative MP Nadine Dorries in the current parliament?
The idea of an MP who values the word of God above any science is more than a little bit terrifying to me. We know that women need safe access to abortion, and that without this many women suffer infection, illness and even death. Ignoring this fact, and all of the science out there about fetal development and survival rates, could potentially put women at risk.
Jemima shared her story to fight stigma, raise awareness and show how important access to legal, safe abortion is. And I wanted to help her do that.
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