In a heartbreaking interview from 1989, Reynolds spoke with Joan Rivers about the horror of not being able to have an abortion after a fetus was found to be dead, about 7 1/2 months into a pregnancy she had very much wanted.
She called it “disgusting” to think that there were once such “ridiculous” laws that prevented her from being able to abort. She had to pause there because the audience broke into loud applause and cheers at those remarks. Both she and the audience obviously could never have imagined such laws would return.
Then she described what it was like to be forced to remain pregnant under such circumstances. “I had to carry the child full-term,” she continued. “That was the law.”
We saw appalled faces in the audience as Reynolds added, “It’s insane to think that really could be.”
Reynolds told of the anguish of going to parties during her late-term pregnancy and being asked how the baby was and what she planned to name it. Rivers and the audience moaned as if astounded at having to undergo such an experience. Reynolds called it a pain she has never been able to forget. She also noted that a lot of other women went through the same thing.
By the time “some board” finally agreed to allow the abortion, she said, her own life was in significant danger.
When Reynolds got pregnant again, the same thing happened. But this time, she insisted on having the abortion and she got it. She called the experiences “very hard to get over.”
Somewhere, Reynolds, Rivers and a host of other women must be rolling in their graves.
