Actress Hilarie Burton claimed that “having an abortion” was what allowed her body to heal properly after a miscarriage — and eventually carry a healthy pregnancy to term — in a lengthy Instagram post decrying the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Burton shared a photo of her and “The Walking Dead” and “Supernatural” actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s daughter and claimed that what Roe truly protected was a woman’s right to have a miscarriage without being subjected to “scrutiny.”
View this post on Instagram
“This is my child. My beloved. My daughter,” the “One Tree Hill” alum began. “It is no secret I struggled with infertility. Losing multiple pregnancies before her was traumatic. But female bodies are all different and unpredictable. 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 went on to explain that she used the terms “abortion” (which terminates a viable pregnancy) and dilation and curettage (D&C — which cleans any remaining tissue from the uterus either following a chemical or surgical abortion or following a miscarriage) interchangeably.
“The official word on the hospital paperwork is abortion. That’s what it was,” she argued, adding, “You know what would have made that painful day even worse? If abortion had been illegal, and law enforcement inspected my body to make sure I hadn’t caused my own miscarriage. Cause that’s what’s coming. It’s already happened. It was commonplace before [Roe v. Wade]”
Burton went on to claim that what Roe had truly protected was a woman’s right “to have miscarriages without scrutiny,” and argued that the Court’s ruling would allow law enforcement to view mothers who miscarried as suspects rather than victims or patients.
“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,” she said. “Your miscarriage will make you a murder suspect. I can’t say this clearly enough or shout it loud enough.”
“I only have my daughter because of my abortion,” she concluded. “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”