Things We Saw Today: Busy Philipps Told Congress the Story of Her Abortion & Why It’s None of Their Business

“I am many things. I am a wife, mother, a professional actor for many years. And I am also the 1 in 4 women in this country who have had an abortion.” – @BusyPhilipps testifying at @senjudiciary hearing. #StopTheBans #YouKnowMe pic.twitter.com/dCQllVjAOm

— Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) June 4, 2019

A civil liberties subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on threats to reproductive rights in America and Busy Phillips was among those present to give testimony on the issue. Philipps described her own experience with abortion on the taken-too-soon Busy Tonight, spawning the hashtag #YouKnowMe, a reminder that everyone knows someone who has had an abortion, even if it’s never been discussed. Now she’s shared her story with Congress in hopes of reminding them that the restrictive abortion laws being passed across the country affect real people in real ways.

Telling the Committee about the abortion she had in 1994 as a 15-year-old living in Arizona, she said “it was not a decision that I made lightly, but I have never for one moment doubted that it was the right decision for me.” But a lot has changed in Arizona and other states since then.

“If I were that same 15-year-old in Arizona today, legally, I would have to get parental consent,” she said. “I would be forced to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound, go to a state-mandated in-person counseling session designed solely to shame me into changing my mind and then take a state-mandated 24-hour time-out to make sure I really know what I wanted. And finally, I would be forced to give this state a reason why.”

“Well, here is mine,” she told the Committee. “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.”

You can watch her full testimony here:

We 💯 agree: “It is my body, not the state’s. Women and their doctors are in the best position to make informed decisions about what is best for them. No one else.” — @BusyPhilipps #StopTheBans #YouKnowMe

Watch her full testimony: pic.twitter.com/2e5wiI6wde

— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) June 4, 2019

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What did you all see out there today?

(image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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