Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has shared that she “wouldn’t exist” if her mother, Uma Thurman, hadn’t had an abortion while in her teens.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (28 June), Hawke spoke about access to abortion following the US Supreme Court’s decision to repeal Roe v Wade, which enshrined it as a human right.

“My mom wrote this really beautiful essay about her abortion that she got when she was really young and about how if she hadn’t had it, she wouldn’t have become the person that she had become, and I wouldn’t exist,” Hawke said.

“Both of my parents’ lives would have been derailed if she hadn’t have had access to safe and legal healthcare – fundamental healthcare.”

In the essay penned by Thurman for The Washington Post in 2021, the actor shared her experience of being “accidentally impregnated by a much older man”.

“I was living out of a suitcase in Europe, far from my family, and about to start a job. I struggled to figure out what to do. I wanted to keep the baby, but how?” she wrote, before explaining her decision to terminate the pregnancy.

“The abortion I had as a teenager was the hardest decision of my life,” Thurman continued. “Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be.”

Since the Supreme Court’s decision, much of the discussion online has turned to the difficult situations in which abortion is required.

While many have been rightfully outraged that victims of incest and rape, as well as those experiencing ectopic pregnancies, will no longer be able to access potentially life-saving treatment, others have pointed out that the abortions don’t only take place in cases of harm.

 “I really wish people would stop drastically using the scenarios of rape or incest as the sole premise for an abortion,” wrote Twitter user Jordyn Hodges.

“A woman doesn’t have to be in a traumatic situation for it to be reason enough. In fact there is zero explanation that needs to be given.”

“‘I want an abortion’ is reason enough to have an abortion. Nothing else needed. All these hypotheticals and dishonest preambles are exhausting,” added Preston Mitchum.

Hawke also went on to say that while “wealthy people will always be able to get abortions”, the Supreme Court’s decision will adversely impact so many others who “will not only not be able to pursue their dreams, but actually lose their lives”.

Official data suggests younger women, poorer women and African American women are likely be worst affected by the decision, as these groups are more likely to seek an abortion.

“So I just wanted to say, f*** the Supreme Court,” Hawke concluded. “But we’re going to keep fighting it, and we’re going to win, like our grandmothers did.”

Images: Getty