Model Ireland Baldwin was raped as a teenager

Since a scandalous verdict by the US Supreme Court, abortions have been illegal in many US states, and violators face heavy penalties. Even pregnancy after rape is no exception. A circumstance that prompted Ireland Baldwin to take a drastic step.

Through her official TikTok account, the daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger revealed she was raped as a teenager and imagined the horror scenario if the crime had made her pregnant.

“I was completely unconscious when it happened and it changed the course of my entire life,” says the 26-year-old. She numbed herself with alcohol and drugs for years, “got into other toxic relationships and friendships” and “virtually did everything to distract myself”.

“Traumatizing and Impossible”

It was almost unimaginable for her “what my life would have been like if I had gotten pregnant and had to raise a child during all the things I was going through at the time”. She immediately adds: “Mind you, I have medical options, money and support that many women don’t have access to. It would simply be traumatizing and impossible.”

She later became pregnant from her then boyfriend, with whom she was “very unhappy”. “I decided to have an abortion because I knew exactly how it feels to be born between two people who hate each other. (…) I chose myself and I would choose myself again. It’s your life, it’s your decision.”

Shock judgment of the Supreme Court

The fact that the US Supreme Court overturned the almost 50-year-old “Roe versus Wade” ruling last week in a landmark decision on abortion rights caused global outrage. Conservative southern states in particular immediately tightened the laws in this regard, and countless abortion clinics have already been closed.

In order to legally have an abortion, the women concerned now have to travel to one of the states in which it is still legal – which involves high costs that socially disadvantaged families often cannot afford.