Famous Women Left Barren b/c of Multiple Illegal Abortions

Beyonce Knowles

Marilyn Monroe

It probably wasn't the number of abortions but badly treated infections afterwards that made these women infertile. The link between sterility and abortion (like the link between breast cancer and abortion) is a nasty lie made up by the anti-choice side.

Piper Laurie recently revealed her abortion trauma in her new autobiography

Myrna Loy. She only had one, and as R3 points out, it was the infection afterwards that caused her infertility. It happened right before she married her first husband, Arthur Hornblow Jr. Sadly, she really loved children and desperately wanted to adopt, but he didn't want to. I think towards the end of her life, she realized that with her career she probably wouldn't have been able to be the kind of mother she wanted to be, so it was for the best.

Joan Crawford

I have my suspicions about Barbara Stanwyck too.

Marilyn Monroe, of course

Some think that Jane Russell used the bad abortion excuse for being unable to have children because she needed an excuse -- she spent more time banging chicks than her husband(s).

Billie Jean King

Nancy Kulp

Weren't those abortions performed by studio doctors?

Who was Russell linked with r8? Female-wise, I mean?

Piper Laurie wrote in her book, she was a newcomer at the studio and was terrified of getting dropped.

So she was forced to look elsewhere for her procedure.

Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo and Kay Francis. But just like Myrna Loy, with that type of career (for Garbo & Francis) no children was best. I don't know why Mary Pickford adopted. She shouldn't have. I've always thought, too about how many women were able to conceive like Clara Bow and Joan Blondell.

Many women were left unable to have children because of STDs that they caught from male partners. Keith Moon's wife Kim was unable to conceive after he gave her a whopping dose when he came back from his first American tour.

One kind of wonders about Patty Boyd Harrison.

An untreated STD can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which can make a woman infertile. Nowadays there are ways of getting around scar tissue, but before the mid 1980s that just wasn't available to women.

Another woman I'll add to the list is Jean Arthur. Her sexuality notwithstanding, Frank Ross (second husband) told his son from another marriage that the reason he and Jean never had children was because she couldn't have them. He never mentioned if that was because of an abortion or otherwise. There's a biography of her called "The Actress Nobody Knew," where the author talks a lot about Jean's famed stage fright, her discomfort in front of the camera and her fear of showing any part of her body, even her legs. He mentions in passing that some thought this phobia could have come from experiencing a trauma during her pre-Hollywood days when she was a fashion model. I suppose if she was unable to have children from an abortion, it could have happened during this time period, because she didn't seem the sort to sleep around.

Barbara Windsor

It's true. I was pregnant seven times with Franchot. I lost them all. :*(

I've had more kids pulled out of me than a burning orphanage!

hump

Well, I guess things worked out well so that they could continue leading their ungodly lives.

Kay Francis = gay

R16, Jean Arthur = very gay

There is no way a movie property such as a promising actress, went to a back-alley abortionist. They had well paid medical professionals on retainer who would do this.

We're just trying to prevent women from becoming barren.

R15--I'd say that unfaithfulness & the various VD's their partners brought home to them where why Patti Boyd Harrison Clapton and also Anjelica Huston were unable to conceive.

R3, please. You're going just a little over here. The assumption here is that multiple BAD abortions is what put these women at risk of infertility or inability to carry a fetus to term. Of course it's good that you reinforced that induced terminations are safe, and that if the first is the fifth is too. But you're just a bit reflexive, dear.

Sherri Shepherd from The View said she had atleast 12 abortions, she doesn't know the exact number because she stopped counting. She still was able to have a child. He's mildly retarded.

r28, are you sure he didn't get that from his mother?

And Sherri has the gall to judge the gays?

I have a friend from college who had six or seven abortions, and various stds (at least five in two years ). She is only 30, but had a really hard time getting pregnant. She ended up having in vitro. I have often wondered if this was because of her carelessness as a younger woman.

Star Jones

Brenda Dickson

R28. As far as being mildly retarded, it appears that Sherri Shepherd shares that gene with her son.

A longtime friend had an illegal abortion in the late 60's. It's not clear whether that or the STDs she picked up over during the 60's and 70s was responsible for her infertility.

You're a pedantic asshole, R27, and I'm sure by this point it's a reflexive trait of your personality.

Barbara Walters

I just don't get why women post-1970s would need to get *multiple* abortions. That is just sickening. Back in the mid-1980s, a friend told me about an abortion she had and it sounded very traumatic. Aside for health reasons and abusive relationships, no woman should ever have more than one abortion.

bette Davis had multiple abortions, but she was able to conceive.

I wonder about Ginger Rogers and Liza.

Tubbs

Why the fuck do gay men give a shit about actresses having illegal abortions? Jesus, are you [italic]that[/italic] obsessed with women?

R16 and R23, my gay great-uncle was a friend of Jean Arthur's, and I wish I could ask him about her. He died before I developed an interest in so many of the things and people he had first-hand knowledge of.

David Tyler Muir had so many abortions that he miscarried Peter Jennings' child.

Ginger Rogers didn't want children. She was cray-cray anyway; she'd have made a lousy mother.

I always suspected this was the reason wire hangers drove Joan apeshit. They were a reminder of her sordid past.

R41, were you born yesterday? It's because they want to give birth.

R 39, were Ginger Rogers and Liza trying to have a child together?

Maybe Ginger couldn't conceive because of her unnatural relationship with her husband Roy's trusty horse, Trigger.

But what's really compelling is R42. Just think! Someone who hasn't identified himself had an uncle whom he could have asked about Jean Arthur, but didn't. Now THAT is gossip.

1940's actress Jane Russell had an abortion while at Van Nuys HS. She went onto great success, but was unable to have kids.

Her HS boyfriend was Bob Waterfield who went on to play football QB for UCLA and the NFL.

Both parents were unbelievably good looking. Their lost child would have had brawn from the dad and looks from the mom.

Jane Russell regretted her aboriton every day the rest of her life and became a devout Christian. She was good friends with Marilyn Monroe.

Because brawn is such an attractive quality in a girl.

[quote]Both parents were unbelievably good looking. Their lost child would have had brawn from the dad and looks from the mom.

That's not how genetics works, dear.

It's not always a perfect blend of "ABC" traits from mom and "DEF" traits from dad. Sometimes, kids take after the "wrong" parent, or are a throwback to a previous generation.

Madonna owns this thread. She's had more children pulled out of her than a burning Joan Crawford!

Brenda Dickson did have many, many abortions, but she was still able to conceive.

She had a child and because of its swarthy skin, she left it in a shopping cart in a grocery store parking lot the week it was born. It was already dead from a Valium overdose.

Greta Garbo had multiple abortions? Really?

"Greta Garbo had multiple abortions? Really?"

No, not really. In Barry Paris's well-researched biography of Garbo he states that Garbo had a take it or leave it attitude towards sex. She had relatively few sexual relationships and some of them were with women. So it's very unlikely that she would have needed to have multiple abortions. She was defintely NOT a slut like Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks and God knows how many others.

Suzanne Somers, she admits freely to anyone who asks.

Marilyn suffered from a severe case of endometriosis from puberty which made it difficult to remain pregnant, not the numerous abortions she's "reported" to have had.

Wasn't Barbara Stanwyck a dyke?

Loretta Young, Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne....all those Catholic ladies with little or no children. Hmmm....

Loretta Young? Now I'm not fan but um not believing that... and Jane Russell was not good friends with Marilyn Monroe. She wished.

Wallis Sinpson

Loretta Young had three children, r58. The oldest one was Judy Lewis who was fathered by Clark Gable. Judy was passed off as Loretta's "adopted" daughter. Oh, and Judy Lewis died late last year at 76.

I didn't know Judy Lewis died.

Yes, r62, Judy Lewis died of cancer; I forget what type of cancer.

Can someone explain how wire hanger abortions are supposed to work? I have never understood the concept. Please don't think I'm stupid, but I really don't know. I'm assuming that you stick it up there, then what?

I was about to post that r57.

R64 the wire hanger is unbent so that it's a long skinny metal rod which can then be inserted up through the cervix and used to rupture the amniotic sac causing a miscarriage. The cervix and uterus could also be sufficiently damaged to force the expulsion of the fetus.

[quote]Oh, and Judy Lewis died late last year at 76.

I just loved her and Lambchop.

Yes R41, With Straight famous women we are. The rest no. They were at least having sex with MEN. That's what's important.

Dakota Fanning is barren I tell you !

Why would Sherri Sheppard have had so many abortions? Did she not ever hear of birth control?

I'm finding most names here suspect...

Nancy Kulp had her abortion performed by Granny, along side the ceement pond. Cousin Besse assisted. "Damn that Ann B Davis".

Coat hanger abortions only work when the fetus is big enough to hook onto. Not that it matters as a baby is a human and alive the before the egg and sperm unite.

Remember what is passing through your hands is a human being, so don't masturbate.

I didn't know Marilyn had 'a severe case of endometriosis'. Most likely that would've made intercourse painful for her and yet it's said she had a fairly active sex life. What gives?

"Ididn't know Marilyn had 'a severe case of endometriosis'. Most likely that would've made intercourse painful for her and yet it's said she had a fairly active sex life. What gives?"

In Anthony Summer's sleazy bio of Marilyn he claims that she always had excruciating pain during her menstrual periods due to endometriosis and that her dozen or so abortions made her insides even more fucked up. He suggests this is why she was never able to have children. He didn't mention any pain during intercourse. It would seem unlikely that intercourse was painful for her; she probably had hundreds of lovers. He did say that sex was mostly unsatisfying to her and that she rarely had orgasms. He quotes one of her lovers as saying "she could never have an orgasm, although she tried so hard."

I'm not claiming to know what endometriosis is actually like and I'm sure it varies from person to person. However, since it was mentioned that Marilyn's case was severe and I know it can make penetrative sex painful, I assumed it might've been like that for her too.

Based on that bio saying the sex was unsatisfying and that she couldn't orgasm, then the sex might've also been uncomfortable and possibly even painful for her and yet she had all these lovers... It's just sad and pretty fucked up.

Don't assume that all those grande dames of the cimena were child-free because they were infertile. Some people really like being child-free, and others decide they just wouldn't be good parents, because they're workaholics or something.

Any actress who might wonder if being a movie star might make her a bad mother, has only to look at her peers.

In the HBO movie "If These Walls Could Talk (the abortion one)" Demi Moore plays a young woman in 1952 who needs an abortion. Her husband dies, and she's drunk and devastated with grief. His younger brother attempts to comfort her and they end up making love. She becomes pregnant. Her husband's family, especially her sister-in-law, are incredibly intrusive. She's in a terrible situation. A nurse, she asks people at the hospital if they know of anyone who can help her. She gets a guy's name and he comes to her house, tells her to lie on the kitchen table and proceeds to dilate her cervix and scrape out her uterus with unsterilized instruments and without anesthetic. The final image of this segment is Moore attempting but failing to phone for help, white-faced, in shock, bleeding like a stuck pig, the floor covered with blood.

It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen in a movie. And no doubt it REALLY happened to a lot of women in the days before Roe vs. Wade.

And some of these child free grand dames didnt want kids because pregnancy would wreck their figures.

I mentioned this on another thread -- My great-grandmother (born 1873) was a church-going Nebraska farmwife at the turn of the century. Her mother had died giving birth to her 23rd child. When she, or one of her nearby farmwife sisters, found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy, they would go to the sister's farm and give each other abortions with a crochet needle. An older mid-wife taught them. No one ever got sick. GG told my mother she probably had 15 abortions that way, some sisters much more.

Many studio contracts of the 50'/ and 60's strictly stated an actress could not get pregnant while under contract or they could be fired and fined. After all, the studio was investing in the profitability of the actress, what they could sell. Many actresses were willing to accept sex with studio execs as a way of moving up. Marilyn was sort of a Anna Nichole and that was truly when she was able to move up a bit.......sad but true for many actresses in that era and they knew it as much as the execs knew they would usually have their way with them. There was a local drugstore that MM use to frequent, along with other up comers back then. Not only were pills obtained. There was supposedly a back room for unwanted pregnancies. Seems unimaginable today, but not then.

I would LOVE a spiritual advisor to join this post and reveal the secrets of that generation......particularly Marilyn. Did she have love letters from the Kennedy's? Was she in Mexico to infiltrate Castro, adopt a girl, marry DiMaggio again, or date An actor? Did she secretively have a love child with someone? Did the mafia have raunchy pictures of her for blackmail? Is N. Miracle her secret daughter or a fake? Did she receive a hot shot or overdose? Was she mentally ill or made to look that way? Feel free to pipe in on JFK as well. Was Oswald hired by our government? Was he the patsy? Is there really a Kennedy curse? I feel there are people alive now who have heard things from reliable sources and they are frightened to speak about it, but boy wouldn't it be something to know some of the answers. It fascinates me that questionable events happened back then and the truth to them all still is so questionable.

As for Barbara Windsor, she openly admits that to having four abortions. Besides, the actress maintains, she never wanted children ever.

saddest thread ever..

Barbara Stanwyck, according to the linked thread, had an abortion when she was 12.

The "abortions cause sterilization" fear mongering is an old tactic and, for the most part, completely untrue.

It's usually promulgated by Fundie Republitards and should be scoffed at and ignored.

Now, infections that went untreated because abortions were not safe and not legal - that was real. In some countries it still is real. It's one of the very good reasons why abortions must be kept safe, legal and accessible today.

What about Sophia Loren?

James Garner's mother died from an illegal abortion.

Yoko Ono made a big deal/art project about having "pre-emptive abortions" in 1969 where she stood on a pedestal and had a dialogue with a coat hanger she would shove up her twat nightly, at sunset.

She only stopped when she got pregnant with Sean.

Barbara Bush. She had to adopt all her kids from Satan.

r10

Here abortion made her gay, not sterile.

That Sherri woman from The View

You guys are incredibly ignorant about women and their anatomy. This thread is like the blind leading the blind.

By the way, my best friend has severe endometriosis -- and she loves sex and has multiple orgasms.

In addition, if Marilyn Monroe was trying so hard to have an orgasm, her partners were doing it wrong (i.e., ignoring the clitoris). But it was (and sometimes still is) customary to blame the women.

The world today is probably just a little bit better because Marilyn Monroe couldn't procreate.

Bumping - Kay Francis's diaries are at Wesleyan and if you google there are excerpts. She seems to have chronicled everybody she slept with (she slept around), including women but by no means mostly women. One woman she slept with she slept with between train stops while traveling on something like the Super Chief. Was all "Slept with Katty just because she wanted to - damn it!"

Would berate herself, calling herself a slut, counting up her abortions, couldn't figure out who the father was, stuff like that. Pretty hectic. She had at least seven abortions (I think more) two abortions inside .. four weeks? Which I didn't think was biologically possible but I guess it was. She comes off very very likable, but also somebody who was constantly drunk, and when drunk would have sex with anyone any time almost anywhere.

The pro-abortion folks--they'll scream they are not "pro" abortion, yet will call others "anti" choice...women always have a choice...don't do the deed, if you don't have the protection (DUH!)--will give all types of excuses for icons having back alley abortions & then bemoan the butchery & the aftermath of these "stars" never being able to have children again. Of course, when they did, many of them shipped their children off to Switzerland for their education & so these bothersome little guttersnipes didn't impact their precious careers (hello, for example, Shirley MacLaine). In these selfish stars, it was probably a more humane thing that after their botched abortions, they could not longer conceive.

Professional Bully / murderess Tina Fey, barren as a granite quarry due to repeated abortions and various untreated STDs

Hollywood legend has it that every time loretta Young had an abortion she would donate money to build a Catholic Church in Los Angeles, and she funded a LOT of churches.

Jeanette MacDonald

Jean Harlow

Ginger Rogers

I swallowed any potential abortions thrust upon me.

If 99.9% of all male movie stars, living or dead, were/are homosexuals , as years of reading DL have shown time and time again, how in the HELL are all these Hollywood sluts getting knocked up over and over again?

They can't ALL have been Mickey Rooneys, could they?

^ They must've been having sex with non-actors, then.

Betty White, I'd like to think.

Actually, I'd like to think she was willingly childfree and had an abortion or two that may or may not have resulted in whatever infection supposedly renders women barren, and didn't give a fuck.

Frank Sinatra's mother was the neighborhood fixer

Fuck you, R38. It's none of your business whether a woman has zero or three dozen abortions.

[italics]That woman[italics]

Lana Turner

Strickling, who was by now referred to as a “fixer,” had his hands full with Turner. The “Sweater Girl” allegedly found herself pregnant by bandleader Artie Shaw in 1941, and Strickling arranged an abortion during her publicity tour of Hawaii. The procedure took place without anesthesia, on her hotel bed. Turner’s mother covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her daughter’s cries.

R28. OMG, what kind of moron needs to have 12 abortions? And she always talks about being so Christian.

How very dare you?!

This is a super interesting thread. But, guys, my mom has friends who had trouble conceiving. There ARE other reasons for infertility!

Having said that, the autobiography of Liz Tilberis is very touching. She passed away of ovarian cancer, and she was convinced that fertility treatments she underwent were the cause of her illness.

She had suffered from P.elvic Inflammatory Disease, which may have rendered her infertile.

R64 Most of the women who used the coat hanger technique (even if the hanger was sterilized) pre Roe v Wade, suffered horribly and didn't live to tell their story. Most died within days. Many bled out and got life-threatening infections. At best, the survivors somehow lived through it and ended up with PID. That was the best case scenario. The few who lived to tell said it was more painful than surgery without anesthesia.

Most of the straight baby-boomers girls I attended high school and college with would not have premarital sex. Birth control and abortion were not available to them back then. So it was too risky and a risk most weren't willing to take.

Back then Drs feared losing their medical license and practice, and therefore refused to perform abortions. No teen girl/woman was worth losing everything for and possibly facing jail time as well. Only the elite could get a safe abortion, the same that will occur if Trump overturns Roe v. Wade. He's trying, although he won't and can't overturn Roe v Wade. He's full of shit.

I only wish...

Angela Lansbury

Bea Arthur

Who’s Brenda Dickson?

Just for clarity, the coat hanger/knitting needle trick is not designed to stab a fetus. The foreign object should provoke a reaction and the womb should evacuate everything. An illegal abortion that causes an infection means that the hanger/needle was not clean or pierced something.

^ Yes, that's true, and then there were also back alley abortions performed by doctors who didn't use a coat hanger or knitting needle but nevertheless didn't have the proper equipment. They were profiting off of the desperate women they exploited. Hence, back alley abortions. I pray we never go back to those dark days.

[quote] I don't know why Mary Pickford adopted. She shouldn't have

I read that Pickford took custody of her niece Gwynne, after the 1928 death of her mother Charlotte, who adopted Gwynne from her other daughter Lottie in 1920. I didn't know about Mary Pickford's abortions, I'd read in the [italic]Doug & Mary[/italic] bio that Mary blamed her infertility on moving a heavy trunk (I didn't believe that when I read it, but I didn't know about abortions). It's not like Jack Pickford & his bride at the time Olive Thomas were worthy guardians of Gwynne...