Actor Sally Field revealed in a candid Instagram video that she had a "life-altering" illegal abortion as a teenager, offering a powerful reminder about what's at stake with the upcoming election.
In her caption, Field said she'd felt very "hesitant" to share her experience, which happened in 1964, "during a time even worse than now." She noted, however, that she feels that "so many women of my generation went through similar, traumatic events and I feel stronger when I think of them" even if shame is still "ingrained in me" due to her upbringing in the 1950s.
Field pointed to the experience as a key reason to support the Democratic presidential ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, whom Field has endorsed, along with other candidates and ballot measures “that could protect reproductive freedom."
She recalled:
“I had no choices in my life; I didn’t have a lot of family support or finances. I had graduated high school, but no one ever said, ‘How about college?’ Nothing. I didn’t know what was gonna be. And then I found out I was pregnant.”
"Luckily, I had a doctor who was a friend of the family and he drove me, his wife, and my mother in their brand new Cadillac to Tijuana. We parked on a really scrungy-looking street, scary. And he parked about three blocks away and said, ‘See that building down there?’"
"And he gave me an envelope with cash, and I was to walk into that building and give them the cash and then come right back to him."
Field said she had “no anesthetic” during the procedure, noting:
“There was a technician giving me a few puffs of ether, but he would then take it away, so it just made my arms and legs feel numb and weird, but I felt everything — how much pain I was in.”
“I realized that the technician was actually molesting me, so I had to figure out, how can I make my arms move to push him away? So it was just this absolute pit of shame. And then, when it was finished, they said, ‘Go go go go go!’, like the building was on fire. And they didn’t want me there, you know, it was illegal.”
Field, the winner of two Academy Awards and three Emmy Awards, said she began going to auditions afterward and by the end of the year landed her starring role in Gidget, a welcome change after a "beyond hideous" and "life-altering" experience.
She also praised the doctor who helped her seek treatment for his “generosity” and “bravery" because "he could have lost his license" or worse.
She also underscored the importance of telling her story in the first place:
“These are the things that women are going through now — when they’re trying to get to another state, they don’t have the money, they don’t have the means, they don’t know where they’re going."
"And it’s beyond, how you can go back to that and do that to our little girls and our young women, and not have respect and regard for their health and their own decisions about whether they feel they’re able to give birth to a child at that time."
"We can’t go back. We have to all stand up and fight.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many praised Field for sharing her story and stressed the importance of voting in November for Harris and Democrats who will uphold reproductive freedom.
Field had previously endorsed Harris for president when President Joe Biden stepped down, telling Variety in July that she was “so grateful” to Biden and fully supported Harris “with my whole 77-year-old heart.”
While public polling has consistently shown that most Americans favor access to abortion, many Republican-led state legislatures have worked to restrict it, often citing conservative religious beliefs.
Although Roe v. Wade was overturned two years after former President Donald Trump left office, three U.S. Supreme Court justices appointed by him were part of the conservative bloc that struck down the landmark decision. There are growing concerns that a second Trump presidency could further erode women’s reproductive rights.
@jessicachastain/Instagram
