Chrissy Teigen Opens Up About Her Life-Saving Abortion in Rally Speech

The supermodel and mom of four voiced her support for Proposition 139, a ballot initiative making abortion a constitutional right in Arizona.

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SI Swimsuit legend and 2024 cover girl Chrissy Teigen took the stage at a rally in Arizona to voice her support for Proposition 139, a ballot initiative that would make abortion a constitutional right in the state.

The mom of four, who shares her kids Luna, Miles, Esti and Wren with husband John Legend, shared her deeply personal experience of needing an abortion herself in 2020, which she has previously candidly spoken about on social media. The 38-year-old revealed her struggles with the decision, the misconceptions around it and the critical need for accessible reproductive healthcare.

In her speech, Teigen recalled the day she realized her pregnancy was no longer viable. “The world knew that we were pregnant. This was a baby that we desperately wanted,” she said. “It was really exciting for us because we had done IVF for every other single baby. We made our little embryos, our perfect embryos… Then all of a sudden, I got pregnant naturally, and it was a godsend to us. It was amazing. We were so, so excited.”

However, at around 12 weeks, complications began to arise.

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Teigen described the slow decline in her health. “Slowly but surely, things started taking a turn for the worst,” she recalled. “I was bleeding out… One thing that was really hard for me was that I never experienced any pain in it. So I never thought of it as being anything other than a miscarriage.” The complications led to severe blood loss and days in the hospital, where doctors tried to stabilize her and the baby with multiple blood transfusions.

In a heartbreaking realization, Teigen admitted that, at the time, she did not recognize her experience as an abortion, largely due to the stigma around the word. “You know, we hear the word abortion, and we think there’s some kind of pain with it,” the TV personality explained. “Nowhere in those days in the hospital did I think that I was in danger of losing this baby because I was in no pain. And not to mention, there’s such a stigma around the word abortion.”

It wasn’t until later, during the intense debates leading up to Roe v. Wade’s overturning, that Teigen grasped the reality of what she went through. Teigen recalled expressing to Legend, 45, how difficult it must be for others to go through the experience of choosing an abortion, not realizing at that moment that she had been through the same. The musician then gently pointed out that, in fact, they had made that very choice when her life was at risk just less than two years prior.

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This moment of clarity moved Teigen to share her story on a larger level, hoping to reshape public understanding of abortion and healthcare. “My mind was blown that day,” she admitted. “I realized… if I didn’t know the language around this and I didn’t know what was happening to my body, how could other people possibly empathize with our situation?”

For Teigen, the experience has transformed her into a passionate advocate for reproductive rights and healthcare. “I wanted to make sure that I became the person that can amplify all of you out here in making sure that the language is used… [I hope] that people know that abortion is healthcare,” she continued.

Voting in next week’s election holds unprecedented significance, as reproductive rights are highly at stake.