Busy Philipps testifies about her abortion on Capitol Hill: 'This was one of the scarier things I have done in my life'

It was only a month ago that actress Busy Philipps tweeted about having had an abortion when she was 15 years old. On Tuesday, she told the story live in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill.

At a hearing called “Threats to Reproductive Rights in America,” Philipps explained that the response to sharing her experience and asking others to share their own, with the #YouKnowMe hashtag, has been “overwhelming.”

“In the week after I shared my story on my show, women were coming up to me in the street, in the supermarket, at my gym with tears in their eyes, thanking me for my bravery,” Philipps said. “But the word ‘brave’ didn’t sit right with me. Why is it brave to speak to an experience that millions of people around the world throughout history have gone through? And then I realized it is considered brave because as women we have been taught to feel shame about our bodies since birth.”

Abortion is healthcare and should be treated as such, and it should be a discussion between a woman and her doctor, not politicians, Philipps said.

“I am so sad that we have to sit here in front of a row of politicians and give deeply personal statements because the why doesn’t matter. It should not matter. I am a human being that deserves autonomy in this country that calls itself free,” the former Busy Tonight host told the subcommittee. “And choices that a human being makes about their own bodies should not be legislated by strangers who can’t possibly know or understand each individual’s circumstances or beliefs.”

As for Philipps’s own reason: "Well, here is mine: It is my body, not the state's. Women and their doctors are the ones that are in the best position to make informed decisions about what is best for them. No one else."

Philipps concluded her five-minute speech by listing several reasons for her appearance, one of which is that she stands by the decision she made as a young teen. Others are that she wants to keep other women from feeling ashamed for their choices and to represent women who don’t have her platform and “will not all get the same chance to talk to you directly.”

“And finally, I’m here today for my two little girls — Birdie and Cricket. My dream for them is that they will live in a world in which women are truly equal with complete control over their own reproductive health. That is the dream I hold for all people, regardless of their privilege or parents or what state they live in.”

The hearing comes as several states have passed anti-abortion laws in an attempt to get the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion.

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