Sally Field is opening up about an illegal abortion she had when she was 17 years old.
The 77-year-old Oscar winner recalled the “traumatic” and “hideous” experience in an Instagram video on Sunday.
“I’ve been so hesitant to do this, to tell my horrific story,” Field began the caption under the video. “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.”
“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,” she added.
According to Field, a family doctor drove her to Tijuana for the procedure. He gave her an envelope of cash, and she went into a building on a “scroungy-looking” street alone. Field says the ordeal was “beyond hideous.”
During the abortion, Field was only given ether but wasn’t fully numb. At a certain point, she recalls realizing the technician was “molesting” her, but in her numb state, she couldn’t do anything about it. She describes the experience as a “pit of shame.”
After the abortion was performed, she was rushed out of the building. Field praises her doctor’s “generosity” and “bravery” for performing the outlawed procedure.
Field, who previously shared the story in her 2018 memoir In Pieces, goes on to explain that a lot of other young girls had a shared trauma of getting an illegal abortion.
“We can’t go back. We have to all stand up and fight,” Field told her followers at the end of the video.
