Joy Behar recalled being rushed to the hospital after suffering an ectopic pregnancy in 1979, revealing that her doctor told her, “We almost lost you”
Joy Behar is opening up about a pregnancy that nearly took her life.
During Wednesday’s installment of The View, Behar and her co-hosts shared their thoughts on Kansas voters preserving abortion rights, as well as the ongoing national debate after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion.
“In 1979 I had an ectopic pregnancy,” Behar said. “I almost died.”
She explained that an ectopic pregnancy occurs when “the fetus is growing in the fallopian tube.” Mayo Clinic notes that an ectopic pregnancy can also occur “in other areas of the body, such as the ovary, abdominal cavity or the lower part of the uterus (cervix).”
“There’s nowhere to go from that,” Behar added. “You can’t give birth from your fallopian tube and the fetus will not grow. It grows, but not to full term. So it will grow just enough to make the tube burst. What happens then, you bleed internally and then you die.”
The TV personality, 79, recalled being “rushed to the hospital” before a doctor told her the following day, “We almost lost you.”
“I was in a situation where I could go to Beth Israel Hospital and they took care of it there,” said Behar.
She later told guest co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck that she did not have an abortion or a miscarriage.
Behar is one of the latest to share her pregnancy story after the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Just days after the 1973 case was reversed, The Hills alum Lauren Conrad revealed she suffered an ectopic pregnancy, and credited “lifesaving care” for helping her.
In a series of Instagram Stories Conrad, 36, said she was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy prior to starting a family with husband William Tell, 42.
“The last few days have been hard. I’ve been searching for the right words, and reposting someone else’s didn’t feel quite right,” she said. “I wanted to share my own experience with lifesaving reproductive care.”
She continued, “Six years ago, while trying to start our family, I had an ectopic pregnancy.”
The Little Market co-founder shared that doctors were able to save her fallopian tubes due to “prompt medical care,” which allowed her to have two healthy pregnancies. Conrad and Tell are now parents to sons Liam, 5, and son Charlie, 2.
“Yesterday I read about a woman with this same condition having her ectopic pregnancy rupture — and facing death — while waiting for treatment,” she wrote. “Because her doctor was on the phone with his lawyer out of fear of losing his medical license (for using a D&C as a tool to help establish the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy).”
“This is heart breaking [sic],” she added.
She later opened up about the importance of women being able to make their own choices in regards to reproductive care.
“Many women in my life have had their own experiences with abortion,” she said. “I am so grateful that in each case they were able to safely receive the healthcare they needed and were free to make their own decisions.”
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