Actress Minka Kelly has become the latest celebrity to come forward with her own abortion story to protest Alabama's strict ban on pregnancy terminations.
The Friday Night Lights star took to Instagram on Thursday (16May19) to share her own experience of ending an early pregnancy during her youth, insisting it was the best thing to do for all involved at the time.
"When I was younger I had an abortion," she began. "It was the smartest decision I could've made, not only for myself and my boyfriend at the time, but also for this unborn fetus."
"For a baby to've been born to two people - too young and completely ill equipped - with no means or help from family, would have resulted in a child born into an unnecessary world of struggle," she continued. "Having a baby at that time would have only perpetuated the cycle of poverty, chaos and dysfunction I was born into."
Minka, who went public with her story alongside a collage of photos of the 25 men in Alabama's Congress who helped to push the bill through, argued the near-total abortion ban does little to help the women forced to endure pregnancy, and even less once the child arrives.
"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?" she said. "Our lives, traumas and family planning is for no one to decide but us. Certainly not a group of old white men."
Minka concluded her lengthy note by reminding those in favour of the bill that the law won't stop women from seeking out abortions, and instead will only result in terminations performed in unsafe conditions.
The 38 year old's words of warning emerge shortly after stars like Lady Gaga, Alyssa Milano, director Ava DuVernay, singer/actress Janelle Monae, and Minka's ex-boyfriend Chris Evans slammed Alabama lawmakers online for passing the new legislation, which only allows abortions in instances where the pregnancies pose a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother, and if the baby has a "lethal anomaly".
Minka isn't the first to share her personal experience of abortion in light of the strict laws passed in Alabama and Georgia, where terminations are to be made illegal in 2020 once a foetus' heartbeat can be detected.
Former Dawson's Creek star Busy Philipps previously lashed out at Georgia's 'heartbeat bill', while Milla Jovovich blasted politicians across America on Tuesday as she recalled a "hellish" emergency termination procedure she had to undergo while filming on location in Eastern Europe two years ago, insisting the thought of women in the U.S. forced to undergo abortions in worse conditions than she had to endure makes her sick.
