Sally Field Talks About ‘Traumatic’ Abortion She Had Before Starring on ‘Gidget’
Oscar winner Sally Field released an Instagram video on Monday where she recounted the “horrific story” of a “traumatic” illegal abortion she had in 1964 at the age of 17.
The star — who came to prominence as the star of sitcom Gidget in the ’60s, before going on to an acclaimed and wide-ranging film career that spanned performances in films including Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Doubtfire and Lincoln — recalled her life pre-fame. She was a recent high school grad, with no money or family guidance about her future, who had never been out of the state or on an airplane. “I didn’t know what I was going to be,” she remembered, “and then I found out I was pregnant.”
Field’s family doctor drove her, her mother and his wife to Tijuana, where Field was dropped off at an illegal abortion clinic with an envelope of cash. She was instructed to go into the building and come right back to the doctor immediately after the procedure — “I guess he thought that maybe if I were dying, he could help me.”
View this post on Instagram
Field described her experience in the illegal clinic as “beyond hideous and … life-altering,” recalling that she was given no anesthetic, just a small amount of ether that made her limbs numb, and that the technician began molesting her early on in the procedure. Once it was finished, the technicians told Field to “go, go, go, go, like the building was on fire. They didn’t want me there. You know, it was illegal.”
Field saluted her family doctor’s “generosity and bravery” because he would have lost his license if it had come out that he had assisted a patient in procuring an illegal abortion. She said that she still felt “very shamed” about her experience.
Soon after, Field began going to auditions, and by the end of the year, she had been cast as Gidget — as Field said, “the quintessential, all-American girl next door.”
Field then drew parallels between her experience and the experiences of women now who must travel across state lines in order to have abortions.
She wrote in the text accompanying the video, “I’ve been so hesitant to do this, to tell my horrific story. It was during a time even worse than now. A time when contraception was not readily available and only if you were married. But I feel that so many women of my generation went through similar, traumatic events and I feel stronger when I think of them. I believe, like me, they must want to fight for their grandchildren and all the young women of this country.
“It’s one of the reasons why so many of us are supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Everyone, please, pay attention to this election, up and down the ballot, in every state — especially those with ballot initiatives that could protect reproductive freedom. PLEASE. WE CAN’T GO BACK!!
“So here is my story. I’d be honored if you’d tell me yours, if you can.”
Wonder Women
March 2018
Celebrate these fabulous famous females who have changed helped the world!
Buy This Issue