Sally Field Details 'Traumatic' Illegal Abortion in 1964 Ahead of 2024 Presidential Election: 'We Can't Go Back'

Mar. 15, 2025

Sally Field.Photo:Sally Field/Instagram

Sally Field/Instagram

Sally Fieldis sharing her abortion experience as the2024 presidential electiondraws closer.

The two-timeOscarwinner shared the story of her own “traumatic” illegal abortion 60 years ago, beforethe landmarkRoe v. WadeSupreme Court decisionthat affirmed the right to abortion in the United States. (The decision wasoverturned in 2022, nearly 50 years after it went into effect.)

“I had no choices in my life, I didn’t have a lot of family support or finances. I graduated high school but no one ever said, ‘How about college?’ Nothing. I didn’t know what I was gonna be,” said the actress. “And then I found out I was pregnant.”

At the time, Field “had a family doctor who was a friend of the family, and he drove me and his wife and my mother, in their brand-new Cadillac, to Tijuana.”

“And we parked on a really scroungy-looking street, it was 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,” she continued.

Sally Field circa 1964.Kobal/Shutterstock

Kobal/Shutterstock

Calling the experience “beyond hideous and life-altering,” theForrest Gumpstar said that she “had no anesthetic” during the procedure. However, “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 weird, but I felt everything — how much pain I was in,” she added.

“Then the situation turned darker, Field said. ‘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 went on to praise her doctor’s “generosity” and “bravery,” as “he would’ve lost his license if anyone had found out” what he did for her.

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“And more probably, because I was too naive to know anything,” she said. “I’d never been out of the state, I’d never been on an airplane.”

Referencing details she gave in her 2018 memoirIn Pieces, Field said in her video, “The thing that I wrote about in the book, in reality, I was the quintessential, all-American girl next door, because so many young women, my generation of women, were going through this.”

“And these are the things thatwomen 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,” she added. “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. And that was that lovely story,” she concluded.

“A time when contraception was not readily available and only if you were married,” Field wrote. “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.”

Sally Field in Los Angeles on March 2, 2016.Casey Curry/Invision/AP

Casey Curry/Invision/AP

Field went on to say that the issue is “one of the reasons why so many of us are supportingKamala HarrisandTim Walz” in the upcoming election.

“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!!” she concluded, telling her followers she would “be honored” to hear others’ stories, if they are willing.

“I just love you and the beautiful family you have. thank you ❤️,” wrote Philipps, 45.

“Thank you. You are a courageous beacon of light and hope for all of us. 💕,“Elizabeth Perkinssaid, whileMarcia Crossalso wrote, “Thank you.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

source: people.com