# Celebrities Who Have Had Abortions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893 "2011-03-08T05:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/61 "2011-03-09T18:58:35Z")
I’m trying to find a definitive source on Germaine Greer . I’m pretty sure I heard that she had, from one of her TV interviews but I can’t find anything except vague references to “experience with abortion” ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/62 "2011-03-09T20:00:07Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I have defended it very well, actually I am ambivalent about abortion, but I have to say, no, you haven’t defended it well at all. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/63 "2011-03-09T20:21:10Z")
Sondra Locke has claimed that Clint Eastwood forced her to have two abortions when they were living together. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/64 "2011-03-09T21:44:31Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Sondra Locke has claimed that Clint Eastwood forced her to have two abortions when they were living together. I wonder if she’s counting _Bronco Billy_ and _Any Which Way You Can_ as abortions. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/65 "2011-03-09T23:25:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder if she’s counting _Bronco Billy_ and _Any Which Way You Can_ as abortions. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/66 "2011-03-10T00:24:41Z")
A bit obscure to be called celebrity today but certainly in the 1920s she was super famous: [Virginia Rappe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Rappe), the woman at the center of the Fatty Arbuckle rape/manslaughter trial in 1921, was portrayed as a doe eyed innocent in the trial and in some papers but in reality she’d had numerous abortions. Her death after allegedly having sex with 300+ pound Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was attributed at the time to everything from object rape to his massive weight falling on her and the case was front page news for weeks, but Arbuckle almost certainly had nothing to do with it and in fact it may have been due to complications from yet another abortion. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/67 "2011-03-14T05:27:21Z")
Among the more famous signers of the Manifesto of the 343 (a declaration signed by 343 women in 1971, all of them admitting to having had an abortion, which was then published in a French magazine) were: Françoise d’Eaubonne (eco-feminist pioneer) Simone de Beauvoir (philosopher and author) Christine Delphy (sociologist) Catherine Deneuve (actress) Marguerite Duras (author) Françoise Fabian (actress) Brigitte Fontaine (singer) Gisèle Halimi (lawyer and feminist activist) Bernadette Lafont (actress) Violette Leduc (author) Ariane Mnouchkine (stage director) Claudine Monteil (women’s rights advocate) Jeanne Moreau (actress) Marie Pillet (actress and mother of actress Julie Delpy) Marie-France Pisier (actress) Micheline Presle (actress) Françoise Sagan (playwright, novelist, and screenwriter) Delphine Seyrig (actress and director) Nadine Trintignant (actress and mother of actress Marie Trintignant) Agnès Varda (director) Marina Vlady (actress) Anne Wiazemsky (actress) Monique Wittig (author and feminist) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/68 "2011-03-14T05:30:20Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > Among the more famous signers of the Manifesto of the 343 (a declaration signed by 343 women in 1971, all of them admitting to having had an abortion, which was then published in a French magazine) were: > > Françoise d’Eaubonne (eco-feminist pioneer) > Simone de Beauvoir (philosopher and author) > Christine Delphy (sociologist) > Catherine Deneuve (actress) > Marguerite Duras (author) > Françoise Fabian (actress) > Brigitte Fontaine (singer) > Gisèle Halimi (lawyer and feminist activist) > Bernadette Lafont (actress) > Violette Leduc (author) > Ariane Mnouchkine (stage director) > Claudine Monteil (women’s rights advocate) > Jeanne Moreau (actress) > Marie Pillet (actress and mother of actress Julie Delpy) > Marie-France Pisier (actress) > Micheline Presle (actress) > Françoise Sagan (playwright, novelist, and screenwriter) > Delphine Seyrig (actress and director) > Nadine Trintignant (actress and mother of actress Marie Trintignant) > Agnès Varda (director) > Marina Vlady (actress) > Anne Wiazemsky (actress) > Monique Wittig (author and feminist) Most amazing is that in all cases the pregnancy was caused by Marcel Marceau. Some biographers believe this was the origin of his “Fetus Being Aborted in the Wind” routine. ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/69 "2011-03-14T08:44:07Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > One of her eggs went into making the fetus; if you phrase it that way, it does make sense. One, yes. Not all. ---
**Author:** ![AislinnGalilahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@AislinnGalilahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AislinnGalilahi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/70 "2011-09-14T20:45:08Z")
hyp·o·crite    [hip-uh-krit] Show IPA noun 1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs. 1. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements. … Having an abortion and later feeling it was wrong (even wishing to make it illegal, which is a debate in and of itself) based on experience and the emotional and physical repercussions of making that choice is not hypocritical. If she had no personal objection AT THE TIME of campaigning against it (or simply advising, if that be the case) and just wanted to make it illegal for the heck of it, that would be hypocritical. Or, If she believed it was wrong and had and abortion WHILE campaigning, that would also be hypocritical. Changing your mind is not a crime, nor is gaining experience. Your logic is flawed by an obvious bias. Are federal drug recalls hypocritical? “Oops, that medicine caused cancer…well, too late now, making it illegal would be hypocritical.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/71 "2011-09-14T21:13:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Since this argument about hypocrisy is dragging the thread off topic, it’s time to end it. Start a thread about it in Great Debates if you want to discuss it. Moderating Zombie. Do zombies crave fetuses? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/72 "2011-09-14T21:35:37Z")
If this thread felt strong enough to come all the way from the other side then all I can say is I was wrong and Patricia Neal wasn’t a hypocrite. I will say instead that she was a selfish preachy old bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/73 "2011-09-15T12:10:07Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > **Celebrities Who Have Had Abortions** > > What is. . .a Jeopardy category that would raise a few eyebrows. No, that would be “Celebrities who have had facelifts.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/74 "2011-09-15T12:19:06Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Most amazing is that in all cases the pregnancy was caused by Marcel Marceau. Some biographers believe this was the origin of his “Fetus Being Aborted in the Wind” routine. Huh. Talk about a silent scream. Reference only for pun value, with no effort to weigh in on the debate. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/75 "2011-09-15T13:24:14Z")
Whoopi Goldberg had two abortions and is decided pro-choice. When her 15 year old daughter got pregnant and told her she was keeping her baby, Whoopi supported her decision. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/76 "2011-09-15T14:10:44Z")
Wilford Brimley is so pro choice he once hired two dozen surrogate mothers just to get pregnant and have abortions by him. Oh, sorry- that thread’s long over with ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/77 "2011-09-15T14:21:57Z")
This gave me a great idea for a graphic novel: Attack of the Celebrity Aborted Fetus Zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/78 "2011-09-15T14:34:22Z")
Diane Downs, the subject of Ann Rule’s book "Small Sacrifices,’ and later played in the TV movie by Farrah Fawcett. She had two daughters very close together, and cajoled her husband into getting a vasectomy. Then she got pregnant again by her husband, whose vasectomy wasn’t done right. She had an abortion, and her husband had the snip redone. Three years later, she would see a “pro-life” exhibit and realize she had “killed a baby.” When her husband refused to have his vasectomy reversed, she picked out another guy and had a son by him. She then became a surrogate mother, gave up the child, and ending up shooting her three children, killing her second daughter and paralyzing the other two. She got pregnant again during her trial and gave birth in prison to a daughter that was adopted. I wonder how her life would have been if she hadn’t been convinced her abortion was “killing a baby.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/79 "2011-09-15T15:03:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Diane Downs, the subject of Ann Rule’s book "Small Sacrifices,’ and later played in the TV movie by Farrah Fawcett. > > She had two daughters very close together, and cajoled her husband into getting a vasectomy. Then she got pregnant again by her husband, whose vasectomy wasn’t done right. She had an abortion, and her husband had the snip redone. > > Three years later, she would see a “pro-life” exhibit and realize she had “killed a baby.” When her husband refused to have his vasectomy reversed, she picked out another guy and had a son by him. She then became a surrogate mother, gave up the child, and ending up shooting her three children, killing her second daughter and paralyzing the other two. > > She got pregnant again during her trial and gave birth in prison to a daughter that was adopted. > > I wonder how her life would have been if she hadn’t been convinced her abortion was “killing a baby.” I’m gonna go out on a limb here, Annie, and say her experience is so atypical as to be irrelevant. I’ll go further and speculate that no public policy or societal consensus could have prevented her from becoming a psycho killer mom and a Lifetime movie. Susan Smith was moved by something other than “abortion guilt,” after all. Andrea Yates, Casey Anthony and Darlie Routier, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893/80 "2011-09-24T03:13:53Z")
Bumping the thread only to mention Ani DiFranco, who had an abortion and wrote the raw and powerful “Lost Woman Song” about it. A definitive rebuttal to those who think pro-choice feminists trivialize abortion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-have-had-abortions/573893.md?page=3)