### Sally Field Opens Up About Her Traumatic Abortion Experience to Advocate for Reproductive Rights

Sally Field, the Oscar-winning actress, recently shared her harrowing experience of undergoing an illegal abortion at the age of 17, hoping to highlight the importance of reproductive rights. Field, now 77, recounted the ordeal in an Instagram video, reflecting on the time in the 1960s just before she gained prominence with the 1965 ABC sitcom, *Gidget*.

Raised during the conservative 1950s, Field spoke candidly about the lack of choices in her life at that time. "I didn't have a lot of family support or finances," she recalled. "I graduated high school but no one ever said, 'How about college?' Nothing." Discovering she was pregnant added to her sense of confusion and desperation.

Support came in an unexpected form: her family doctor, a close friend of her family, took the courageous step of arranging the procedure. Field detailed how the doctor, his wife, and her mother drove her to Tijuana in the doctor's new Cadillac to get the abortion.

"We parked on a really scrungy looking street. It was scary," Field recounted. "...he gave me an envelope with cash and I was to walk into that building, give them the cash, and then come right back to him."

The procedure itself was a nightmare for Field. Without any anesthetic, she endured tremendous pain and discovered that the technician was molesting her. "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," she revealed.

Once the abortion was completed, Field was rushed out of the building, reinforcing the clandestine and illegal nature of the procedure. She expressed her gratitude towards her family doctor, acknowledging the significant risk he took which could have cost him his medical license.

Shortly after this traumatic experience, Field's fortunes dramatically changed. "A few months after that, I began auditions...and by the end of that year, I was Gidget. I was the quintessential, all-American girl next door," she said.

The one-season show featured Field as a spirited teenager living in Los Angeles with her widower dad and best friend. Despite her public persona as the “quintessential all-American girl,” Field emphasized that many young women of her generation experienced similar predicaments.

Although initially reluctant to share her "horrific story," Field decided to speak out to emphasize the necessity of protecting reproductive freedom. She also used her platform to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her VP running mate Tim Walz. "Pay attention to this election," Field urged. "We can't go back."

Sally Field first revealed her abortion in her 2018 memoir, *In Pieces*.