Lena Dunham Responds To Abortion Comment Backlash; Is She Sorry?

After making comments about never having an abortion but wishing she had one, actress Lena Dunham is now apologizing.

During an episode of her Women of the Hour podcast, Dunham detailed a time she visited a Planned Parenthood in Texas where she was asked to share her experience with abortion. It was Dunham’s comments about her experience, or lack thereof, that landed the “Girls” actress in hot water.

“I sort of jumped. ‘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 said. “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had,” she added.

After her comments were picked out by various news outlets and she started to trend on Twitter, Dunham took to Instagram to share her side of the story. According to Dunham, her comments were a “distasteful joke” that she hopes doesn’t “diminish the amazing work” of women who participated in her podcast.

“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,” Dunham wrote.

“I’m so proud of the medley of voices in the episode,” she continued. “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.”

The actress went on to write she would never “intentionally trivialize the emotional and physical challenges of terminating a pregnancy” and her only goal is to “increase awareness and decrease stigma.” The actress went on to say that while she knows many will not accept her apology, the apology was for women who have placed their trust in her.

Dunham ended her apology by revealing she will make a “sizable donation” to abortion funds and included a link for others to donate as well.

It’s not the first time Dunham’s comments have gotten her in trouble. In September, Dunham accused NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. of not wanting to sleep with her because of her looks. “I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards,” Dunham said.

Dunham eventually apologized for her comments, saying, “My story about him was clearly (to me) about my own insecurities as an average-bodied woman at a table of supermodels and athletes. It’s not an assumption about who he is or an expectation of sexual attention.”