Actress and artist Jemima Kirke, best known as Jessa on HBO's Girls, terminated a pregnancy while she was in college in 2007. In this new PSA for the Center for Reproductive Rights, she shares that story. It isn't sensational or scandalous. In fact, her story seems rather common—and that's exactly why the PSA is affecting.
Speaking candidly about abortion is often met with stigma and shame, even embarrassment, according to Kirke, who is looking to combat the taboo nature of abortion stories by opening up about her own.
In the three-minute PSA, the mother of three (including two daughters, whom she mentions) notes the hurdles she had to clear to gain access to the legal procedure.
"It's these obstacles and it's this stigma that makes these things not completely unavailable," she says. "And that's the tricky part, is that we think we do have free choice and we are able to do whatever we want. But then there are these little hoops we have to jump through to get them."
The actress is one of many telling her story, no small task given the inherently political nature of the topic. The Center for Reproductive Rights' "Draw the Line" campaign looks to cement Americans' access to reproductive care in a political environment that has steadily worked to restrict it.