Oscar-winning actress Sally Field has shared a video on Instagram where she recounts the "traumatic" illegal abortion she had in 1964, long before her acting career took off. Field initially discussed this experience in her 2018 memoir "In Pieces" and is now using her personal story to underscore the challenges women face following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The Supreme Court's decision was based on the argument that the right to abortion was not "deeply rooted in this nation's history or tradition."

"I've been so hesitant to do this, to tell my horrific story," Field wrote in the video's caption. "It was during a time even worse than now. 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. I believe, like me, they must want to fight for their grandchildren and all the young women of this country."

She added: "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!!"

In the video, Field details how her family doctor took her to Tijuana, Mexico after she became pregnant at 17 to undergo the abortion. This was before the establishment of Roe v. Wade. "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," Field recalled.

The actress described the experience as "beyond hideous and life-altering" and revealed that she "had no anesthetic" during the procedure. She also mentioned 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."

Shortly after her illegal abortion, Field began auditioning and landed her breakthrough role as Gidget Lawrence in the sitcom Gidget by the end of the year. "These are the things that women 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," Field said. "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."

The US presidential election will be held on November 5.