Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood stood before Congress this week to offer an emotional testimony advocating the passage of a Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act, which would write protections for those who suffer emotional and physical sexual abuse due to assault, harassment and rape into the law.

“I’m here today to use my position as an artist, survivor, mother and advocate to bring a human voice to the population of 25 million survivors in the U.S. who are currently experiencing inequality under the law and who desperately need basic civil rights,” she said. “While no one had to tell me that rape was a worldwide epidemic, to see the flood of stories so similar to my own was both freeing and soul-crushing,” she said. “I would like to say to my attackers that I don’t hate you — I feel sorry for you. I’m not here to shame you, I want to understand you, and I want you to understand me, but you have to listen first.”

She added, “Seven years after my rapes — plural — I was diagnosed with long-term PTSD. I struggled with depression, addiction, agoraphobia, night terrors. I struggled with self-harm to the point of two suicide attempts, which landed me in a psychiatric hospital for a short period of time… This was, however, a turning point in my life when I started seeking professional help to deal with my trauma and mental stress, but others are not so fortunate.”