Halsey: 'Abortion Saved My Life'

Singer Halsey has written a deeply personal essay for Vogue in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, revealing she nearly died on her journey to motherhood — and never wavered from her pro-choice beliefs.

Though Halsey — with partner Alev Aydin — gave birth to a son on July 14 of last year, she'd previously lost three pregnancies.

"I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday," Halsey writes in the essay. "It seemed a cruel irony that I could get pregnant with ease but struggled to maintain a pregnancy. One of my miscarriages required 'aftercare,' a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention... I was desperate to end the pregnancy that was threatening my life."

Because her life had been so close to ending during previous pregnancies, Halsey "rewrote my will during the third trimester of my pregnancy. After my past experiences, I was prepared for the worst. I gave detailed instructions regarding the donation of my organs should I die or be declared brain-dead, meaning if my heart beat on but my brain wasn’t functioning, the state would have permission to cut into my warm and still flush flesh and take my organs to save other lives."

But Halsey's battle to become a mom did not change her feelings about the right to reproductive choice.

"I have never felt more strongly about it. My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his. Every person deserves the right to choose when, if, and how they have this dangerous and life-altering experience. I will hold my son in one arm, and fight with all my might with the other."

Halsey backed up those beliefs in tweets, writing, "I have been advocating for abortion, reproductive rights, and bodily integrity for as long as I’ve had a platform and I’m running out of ways to word and frame the severity of the impact that fundamentalism has on our country."