In an emotional video posted on Instagram, the Steel Magnolias star opened up about still feeling a deep sense of shame regarding the procedure, which occurred before she secured her breakout role in the comedy series Gidget.
“I was 17 and had no choices in my life,” Field explained. “I didn’t have much family support or financial resources. I had graduated from high school, but no one ever suggested, ‘How about college?’ I felt lost, and then I found out I was pregnant.”
Field recounted traveling to Tijuana, Mexico, with her mother and a family doctor to have the abortion, which she paid for in cash.
“It was beyond hideous and life-altering,” she recalled. “I had no anesthetic.”
During the procedure, she became aware that a technician had begun “molesting” her. “It was just this absolute pit of shame,” she said.
Field compared her experience to that of many young women today, particularly those in states with restricted abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“These are the things women are facing now—trying to get to another state without the money or means, not knowing where to go,” she said.
The Academy Award winner previously shared her abortion story in her 2018 memoir, In Pieces. Reflecting on her experience now, she hopes to inspire viewers to “stand up and fight,” particularly against former President Donald Trump, who has expressed extreme views on abortion rights and favors state-level decisions.
“It’s one of the reasons so many of us support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” she wrote on Instagram alongside the video. “Everyone, please pay attention to this election, up and down the ballot, in every state—especially in those with ballot initiatives that could protect reproductive freedom. PLEASE. WE CAN’T GO BACK!!”
