--- title: Lena Dunham Wishes She Had an Abortion description: Lena Dunham sparked backlash from everyone for saying on her podcast Women of the Hour that she wished she had an abortion. canonical: https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-20T20:49:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:57:04.896Z og:title: Lena Dunham Said She Wishes She Had an Abortion og:description: Her comments were met with intense backlash from everyone og:url: https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3585e906a473f24e/6988b39f196cf4a5b003e574/lena-dunham-abortion-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4400 og:image:height: 2475 og:image:alt: Glamour Women Of The Year 2016 LIVE Summit - Backstage og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham Said She Wishes She Had an Abortion twitter:description: Her comments were met with intense backlash from everyone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3585e906a473f24e/6988b39f196cf4a5b003e574/lena-dunham-abortion-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lena Dunham Said She Wishes She Had an Abortion > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2f829e28-6557-4a54-b67c-b2e617ab0770&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Lena Dunham Faces Backlash for Saying She Wishes She’d Had an Abortion [Watch (HLS stream): Lena Dunham Faces Backlash for Saying She Wishes She’d Had an Abortion](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lA7GHJYD.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2016-12-21. Lena Dunham stirred up controversy during a recent episode of her podcast by saying she wishes she’d had an abortion_  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Dec 20, 2016 8:49 PM UTC Lena Dunham stirred up controversy during a recent episode of her podcast by saying she wishes she’d had an abortion  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Dec 20, 2016 8:49 PM UTC Lena Dunham is coming under fire for saying she wished she had an abortion. The soundbite surfaced on [the latest episode of her podcast _Women of the Hour_](https://soundcloud.com/womenofthehour/choice-season-2-episode-5), where the _Girls_ creator and star discussed women’s stories of abortion. Dunham recalled visiting a Planned Parenthood in Texas, where she was asked to share her own abortion story. “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. And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. Even I, the woman who cares as much as anybody about a woman’s right to choose, felt it was important that people know that I was unblemished in this department,” Dunham said. “It was an important moment for me then to realize that I had internalized some of what society was throwing at us. And I had to put it in the garbage.” But then, she added: “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.” While Dunham was trying to make a point about the [stigma placed on abortion](http://www.vox.com/2016/1/7/10730926/women-abortions-supreme-court-briefs), her remark has sparked backlash from both sides of the issue. > [](https://twitter.com/LRocketto/status/811289948695461888) > [](https://twitter.com/LizWFB/status/811278779062558725) > [](https://twitter.com/sahluwal/status/811295249767145472) > [](https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/811233153339817984) > [](https://twitter.com/AmberKCCO/status/811296559350562816) > [](https://twitter.com/KaitVMaim/status/811296032193646592) > [](https://twitter.com/KFCBarstool/status/811020979036127232) For anti-abortion advocates, the comment was seen as an affront to their belief that fetuses are life. For pro-abortion rights advocates, the comment struck a nerve because it epitomized Dunham’s privilege while ignoring a number of facets of the issue — including the [very real](http://jezebel.com/interview-with-a-woman-who-recently-had-an-abortion-at-1781972395) [emotional consequences](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx%5Ffactor/2013/07/12/abortion%5Fregret%5Fit%5Fs%5Fnot%5Fjust%5Ffor%5Fpro%5Flife%5Fwomen.html) that often come with making the decision to end a pregnancy and the fact that [legal](http://motto.time.com/4375317/supreme-court-texas-abortion-case/?iid=sr-link4) and [financial](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx%5Ffactor/2015/03/02/poor%5Fwomen%5Fhave%5Fmore%5Fabortions%5Feven%5Fthough%5Fmiddle%5Fclass%5Fwomen%5Fabort%5Fmore.html)[ barriers](http://motto.time.com/4608232/congress-letter-donald-trump-hyde-amendment/) often make it impossible for women seeking abortions to get one at all. \[H/T [Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/12/20/lena-dunham-says-never-had-abortion-but-wish-had.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham Said She Wishes She Had an Abortion","datePublished":"2016-12-20T20:49:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:57:04.896Z","description":"Her comments were met with intense backlash from everyone","url":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3585e906a473f24e/6988b39f196cf4a5b003e574/lena-dunham-abortion-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3585e906a473f24e/6988b39f196cf4a5b003e574/lena-dunham-abortion-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Glamour Women Of The Year 2016 LIVE Summit - Backstage","caption":"Glamour Women Of The Year 2016 LIVE Summit - Backstage","creditText":"Emma McIntyre—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/","name":"Lena Dunham Said She Wishes She Had an Abortion"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Lena Dunham Faces Backlash for Saying She Wishes She’d Had an Abortion","description":"Lena Dunham stirred up controversy during a recent episode of her podcast by saying she wishes she’d had an abortion","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lA7GHJYD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-21T00:17:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lA7GHJYD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4608364/lena-dunham-wish-abortion-comments/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```