Chelsea Handler Reveals She Had Two Abortions at Age 16
Image by Getty Images
By Thea Glassman June 30, 2016
Four days before the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that threatened the state’s abortion clinics, Chelsea Handler penned an essay for Playboy explaining just how important Roe v. Wade was for her.
In a piece titled “My Choice,” the 41-year-old comedian revealed she had two abortions at the age of 16. “I was going through a very bad stage in my life,” she wrote. “I hated my parents and I was having unprotected sex with my boyfriend, who was not someone I should’ve been having sex with in the first place, never mind unprotected sex.”
After discovering she was pregnant the first time, Handler recalled that she was initially excited. “I just thought, Why not? I can have a baby. Maybe I’ll have twins and give them rhyming names!”
Her parents had other plans, however, and took her to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion. Afterwards, Hander wrote, she felt “relieved.”
When she got pregnant for a second time, Handler pooled together $230 of her money for a second abortion. “I happened to fuck up twice at the age of 16.” she said. “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.” She added that she never once looks back on her decision.
The comedian went on to write about how “infuriating” it is that politicians were considering overturning a law that has protected women and their rights for the past 40 years. “Like millions of women, I can live my life without an unplanned child born out of an unhealthy relationship because of Roe v. Wade.”
In the end, though, Handler proclaimed that we are “too far ahead of the game” for Roe v. Wade to be put up for discussion.
“It’s a wrap on men deciding what women can do with their bodies,” she said.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
