“Having an abortion after my fetus died allowed for my uterus to heal in a way that made it healthy enough to carry future pregnancies,” Burton wrote on Instagram Tuesday
Hilarie Burton is joining countless women who are sharing their abortion stories amid the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion.
The One Tree Hill alum, 39, shared a photo of her daughter George, 4, playing on Instagram on Tuesday, recalling in the caption that she had an abortion after a pregnancy loss.
“This is my child. My beloved. My daughter,” the actress, who also shares son Augustus, 12, with husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, wrote. “It is no secret I struggled with infertility. Losing multiple pregnancies before her was traumatic. But female bodies are all different and unpredictable.”
She continued, “Having an abortion after my fetus died allowed for my uterus to heal in a way that made it healthy enough to carry future pregnancies. It doesn’t matter if you use the term D&C. The official word on the hospital paperwork is abortion. That’s what it was.”
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Burton went on to say the “painful day” would have been “worse” if abortions were illegal “and law enforcement inspected my body to make sure I hadn’t caused my own miscarriage. Cause that’s what’s coming.”
“[Roe] V Wade protected my rights as a woman to have miscarriages without scrutiny,” Burton said, adding that she’s received messages from her supporters who have also suffered pregnancy losses.
“Think about every loss and then compound it by knowing that the Supreme Court just said it’s okay for states to look at you as a murder suspect in that situation. Your miscarriage will make you a murder suspect. I can’t say this clearly enough or shout it loud enough,” the Drama Queens podcast host wrote.
Added Burton: “I only have my daughter because of my abortion.”
Ending with a pointed message, Burton wrote, “So f— you very much to the Supreme Court. And f— you to the ignorant right wing extremists who want my daughter to have fewer rights than what I was born with. #wewillnotgoback”
In a 6-to-3 vote on Friday, the Supreme Court overturned 1973’s Roe v. Wade. The decision lets individual states choose whether to allow abortions, and will likely lead to all but total bans on the procedure in nearly half of the country.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion, reversing nearly 50 years of precedent. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito wrote. The 78-page opinion was backed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, three of whom were appointed by former President Donald Trump.
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