Hollywood icon Sally Field has opened up about the ‘horrific’ illegal abortion she had as a teenager

Oscar winner and screen icon Sally Field has shared an emotional video on social media about a “hideous and life-altering” experience she endured.

Hollywood legend Sally Field has released an emotional video recalling the time she was snuck into Mexico to undergo an illegal abortion as a teenager.

The two-time Academy Award winner shared the heartbreaking revelation on Instagram to explain why she’s supporting Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz at next month’s election.

Almost six decades ago, when she had just turned 17 after graduating high school, Field discovered she was pregnant.

“I had no choices in my life, I didn’t have a lot of family support or finances,” she said, adding she was “too naive to know anything”.

“I didn’t know what was going to be.”

Screen legend Sally Field released the emotional video to explain her support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Picture: AP

A family friend who was a doctor drove Field to Tijuana in Mexico – her first time even leaving her home state of California.

When they arrived, the man parked on a “scrungy looking street” about three blocks from the nondescript medical clinic.

Field recalled she was given an envelope stuffed with cash and told to “come right back” when the procedure was completed.

“I guess he thought if I was dying, maybe he could help me.”

The abortion was conducted without any anaesthetic, meaning she “felt everything – [the full extent] of how much pain I was in”.

A technician gave her “a few puffs of ether” but quickly took it away, meaning her arms and legs became numb and “felt weird”.

Horrifically, while alone together in the room, the technician then began molesting her, Field said.

“I had to figure out how I [could] make my arms move to push him away.”

The celebrated actress said the experience was “life-altering”.

Sally Field’s emotional revelation has gone viral on Instagram.

The procedure itself was “beyond hideous and life-altering” and the moment it was over, she was told to “go, go, go!”

“They didn’t want me there. It was illegal.”

For a long time after, Field recalled being in an “absolute pit of shame”.

“I still feel very shamed about it. I was raised in the 50s and [that era] is ingrained in me.”

In what Field described as a twist of “fate”, she began auditioning for acting roles a few months after the abortion.

By the end of the year, she landed the title role in the 1965 television sitcom Gidget about a boy crazy surfer chick.

Hollywood legend Sally Field has opened up about the "hideous and life-altering" illegal abortion she had in Mexico when she was 17.

“I was the quintessential all-American girl next door,” she said of her sudden fame.

“In reality, I was, because so many young women in my generation of women were going through this. These are the things women are going through now.”

In the wake of the repeal of Roe v Wade by the US Supreme Court in 2022, multiple states have moved to outlaw or significant restrict access to abortions.

In the most extreme cases, not even medically necessary abortions are allowed, which has led to a string of horrific and tragic episodes.

Some of the most harrowing stories to emerge in the past two years involve minors who were victims of rape being forced to carry their attack’s baby to term.

Reproductive rights have become a major election issue, particularly in the wake of the supposed Donald Trump-endorsed Project 2025 policy proposal, which among other things calls for a nationwide abortion ban.

Sally Field in her breakout role in Gidget.

Like Field at 17, many young women are forced to travel to other states where abortion is legal, she said.

She can’t understand “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”.

“We can’t go back. We can’t go back. We have to all stand up and fight.”

Sally Field landed the starring role in the sitcom Gidget less than a year after the abortion.

In a caption accompanying the video, Field wrote of her “hesitation … to tell my horrific story”.

“But I feel that so many women of my generation went through similar, traumatic events and I feel stronger when I think of them,” she said.

“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!!”

Field’s long list of credits includes Forrest Gump, Steel Magnolias, Sybil, Mrs Doubtfire, Norma Rae, Smokey And The Bandit, ER, and Brothers and Sisters.

She won two Oscars for her Best Actress, one for Norma Rae and another for Places In The Heart. Field was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Lincoln.

She has also won three Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival gong, a SAG award, and has been nominated a Tony Award and two BAFTAs.

Originally published as Hollywood icon Sally Field has opened up about the ‘horrific’ illegal abortion she had as a teenager