Ashley Judd got very personal while defending a woman's right to choose at the Women in the World conference on Thursday in New York City.

The actress was speaking on a panel being moderated by Katie Couric about the current state of feminism when she opened up about her own abortion.

Judd told the audience that she made the decision to terminate that pregnancy because she had been raped by the father of the child.

She then went on to say that should she have made the decision to keep the baby, the father would have been granted custody rights by the state.

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Grim reality: Ashley Judd (above on Thursday) revealed that she was raped by a man and soon after came to realize she had conceived a child during the assault

Archaic: Judd said that she made the decision to have an abortion in part because her rapist would have been given custody of the child under state law (Judd speaks next to authors (L-R) Rebecca Traister, Brittney Cooper, Sarah McBride and moderator Katie Couric during the Feminism: A Battlefield Report session)

Judd shared her story after Couric detailed some of the new legislation that is making its way through legislatures around the country that have cut back on when and how women can obtain abortions.

Couric referred to the bill in Ohio that would make abortion illegal after a heartbeat could be heard, which is around the six-week mark, before noting that the situation had become eerily similar to The Handmaid's Tale.

That is when Judd jumped in to speak about her experience, and the legal guidelines that would have made for a miserable existence for both herself and her child had she decided to keep the baby.

'What I like to talk about is my personal experience with abortion because as everyone knows - and I'm very open about it - I'm a three-time rape survivor,' said Judd.

'And one of the times I was raped there was conception, and I'm very thankful I was able to access safe and legal abortion because that rapist, who is a Kentuckian, as am I, and resides in Tennessee, has paternity rights in Kentucky.

She the explained that she would have ultimately been forced to 'co-parent with a rapist' under the existing laws of those states.

'So having safe access to abortion was personally important to me, and as I said earlier, you know, democracy starts with the skin,' explained Judd.

'We're not supposed to regulate what we choose to do with our insides.'

Judd has become a force in the women's rights movement over the past few years, with the actress having been the first to speak out against Harvey Weinstein years before other women went public with their own stories.

She first wrote a piece for Variety in 2015 that did not name Weinstein, then gave an overview of her experience to The New York Times before sitting down for a tell-all about the mogul's alleged misconduct.

In an interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, Judd described her fear when she found herself inside Weinstein's Beverly Hills hotel back in 1996 as he asked her first for a massage and then to watch her shower.

She made it out of the room without being assaulted, but just a few months later was again accosted by the predator when he grabbed her hand at an Oscars afterparty while she walked by him.

The resulting photo shows the two are friends Weinstein told Sawyer, while Judd explained that her face shows a look of 'abject terror.'

'It's very - it's very gross. It's very gross,' said Judd

'I feel for that 28-year-old, 29-year-old woman.'

family: Judd has become a powerful voice in the women's rights movement ever since she was the first actress to speak out against Harvey Weinstein (Judd with sister Wynonna and mom Naomi)

Judd also detailed the night just a few years later when she finally stood up to him at a crowded party while Barbara Walters look on after he hinted at an alleged pay-for-play trade that would provide her with a good script in exchange for sexual favors.

'And he has spat my name at me ever since,' said Judd, who in spite of this said that if she saw Weinstein she would say: ' I love you and I understand that you are sick and suffering and there is help for a guy like you too and it's entirely up to you to get that help.'

Judd told agents and fellow actors about what had happened to her after the fact, and they all just turned a blind eye, fearful perhaps of what Weinstein might do to them or their career.

Judd was then asked if she would meet with Weinstein, with the disgraced mogul stating after the New York Times released their initial exposè that he wanted to meet with the actress.

'I have no idea. I believe that there is hope and help for everyone,' said Judd.

'It has to be the appropriate help and there has to be a real profound understanding on the part of the sexual predator that what they were doing was wrong and criminal.'

When asked if Weinstein should go to jail, Judd said: 'If he's a rapist he absolutely should go to jail, yes.'

She then told Sawyer her message of 'love' for Weinstein, which shocked the iconic television journalist.

When asked how she could find such forgiveness, Judd said: 'It's just who I am, you know, it's, frankly, it's an easier way to roll through the world than the alternative.'

Early in the interview she described how she prepared to tell her story.

'I went on a run and I thought, sometimes people say they pray on runs or get clarity about things and use it to process and sort and so that's what I did on this particular run on Peach Hollow Road. One of my favorite country roads,' said Judd.

'I made the most important decision I'll ever make years ago which is to turn my will and my life over to the care of a loving god and it was like, I'm so taken care of. I'm totally going to do this.'

She also told her mom, country superstar Naomi Judd, who told her daughter: 'Go get 'em.'

Judd said that she is finally feeling like now is the time when change happens, and this behavior comes to an end.

'This is the moment,' said Judd, wearing an 'Unstoppable' bracelet.

'And if we want it to be the moment it will for sure be the moment.'