Actress Scarlett Johansson thinks women’s health is getting “Lost in Translation” when it comes to lawmakers’ fight to defund Planned Parenthood.
“There are countries at war, there's terrorism, global warming, and we’re like, ‘We should definitely cut the budget for Planned Parenthood. Let’s take away the availability of women’s health initiatives!’” the “Lucy” star said in Cosmopolitan’s May 2016 cover story.
“It’s nuts. We’re talking about preventing cervical and breast cancers.”
Many GOP leaders — including presidential candidate Gov. John Kasich — have sought to strip state and federal funding from the reproductive health nonprofit over its offering abortion services.
“Growing up, I used (their) services. All my girlfriends did — not just for birth control but for Pap smears and breast exams,” Johansson told Cosmo.
“You read about the rise of back-alley abortions, women having to mutilate themselves and teenagers having to seek help in unsafe conditions, and for what?” she said. “We’re moving backward when we’re supposed to be moving forward.”
Scarlett Johansson called lawmakers' efforts to defund Planned Parenthood "nuts."
But the “Her” actress took a more cautious approach to Lawrence’s crusade against Hollywood’s gender wage gap, admitting she felt “obnoxious” discussing the issue given her considerable success.
“There’s something icky about me having that conversation unless it applies to a greater whole,” Johansson said. “I am very fortunate, I make a really good living, and I’m proud to be an actress who's making as much as many of my male peers at this stage.
She added that Tinseltown’s wage inequality struggle was part of the grander scheme of feminism.
“I think every woman has (been underpaid), but unless I’m addressing it as a larger problem, for me to talk about my own personal experience with it feels a little obnoxious,” Johansson said.
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