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Chelsea Handler Admits To Having Two Abortions At 16, Says She Has No Regrets

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 12:07 PST, Jun 27, 2016

Chelsea Handler, the outspoken comedian known for speaking on controversial topics, recently admitted to having two abortions at the young age of 16.

In a personal essay for Playboy‘s “Freedom Issue,” Handler opened up about her “irresponsible” actions and how thankful she was to be able to safely correct them by having an abortion.

Handler started her essay, titled “My Choice,” by explaining to readers about her 16-year-old self. She said she had little parental guidance, and a boyfriend she said she shouldn’t have been having sex with in the first place, and definitely not unprotected sex. As Handler wrote, she “wasn’t really playing with a full deck of cards.” The first time she found out she was pregnant, Handler said her first thought wasn’t to have an abortion but to keep the baby. However, her parents realized how ridiculous that was and took her to Planned Parenthood so she could safely have an abortion.

“I just thought, ‘Why not?’ I can have a baby. Maybe I’ll have twins and give them rhyming names,” Chelsea wrote. “Of course, the idea that I would have a child and raise it by myself at that age, when I couldn’t even find my way home at night, was ridiculous. My parents recognized that, so they acted like parents for one of the very first times in my life and took me to Planned Parenthood. I felt parented, ironically, while I was getting an abortion. And when it was over, I was relieved in every possible way.”

Not long after, Chelsea found out she was pregnant again, and this time, her parents weren’t as supportive – she had to come up with the $230 (the cost of the procedure at Planned Parenthood) for the abortion on her own – her second in less than a year.

“Getting unintentionally pregnant more than once is irresponsible, but it’s still necessary to make a thoughtful decision. We all make mistakes all the time,” Handler wrote. “I happened to f*** up twice at the age of 16. 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. I’m 41 now. I don’t ever look back and think, God, I wish I’d had that baby.”

Handler credits her ability to have two safe abortions to Roe v. Wade. According to Women’s History,Roe v. Wade is the “historic Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas interpretation of abortion law and making abortion legal in the United States.” Before the decision was made on January 22, 1973, it was considered a crime to perform an abortion, unless it was to save the pregnant woman’s life.

“It’s even more infuriating to watch politicians find ways to subvert Roe v. Wade, passing lesser laws that close clinics or restrict abortion access for women,” Handler wrote. “But despite all that, I don’t buy that Roe v. Wade is in danger. We’re too far ahead of the game. Once you go forward in history, you don’t go backward.”

“We have 7.3 billion people on this planet. Anybody who carefully decides not to become a parent—let alone a bad parent, which is what I would have become—should be applauded for making a smart and sustainable decision.”

“I’d love for somebody to try to tell me what to do with my body. I dare them.”

[Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP]

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