SONDRA LOCKE : ABORTIONS and STERILIZATION : CLINT WAS NOT GOING TO CHANGE HIS NATURE OR HIS LIFESTYLE

Sondra Locke and Clint Eastwood didn't just go from hotel to old house he owned with his wife in Sherman Oaks. From 1977 through the 1980's she says they acquired most of their homes.  These included Sun Valley, Idaho.  Then a house in Carmel, near the ocean.  He considered it "home" while she thought of Los Angeles as 'home." Because she traveled with him as well, it does seem as that he was mostly living with her. It was the ranch near Mount Shasta that they had the conversation in which to decide on a second abortion...

These passages from ages 170-171

"What are we gonna do? I asked, gently approaching the subject we'd been postponing.

"Well, baby, you know how I feel," Clint said.

I had learned that I was pregnant.

It was not my first pregnancy. The previous year in the summer of 1978, we had to face the same dilemma, and I had reluctantly agreed to an abortion. IT was a hard and painful decision, but Clint had convinced me that it was the only reasonable answer.  It was difficult for me to argue the point, because Maggie had only just learned about us then, and Kyle and Alison (Clint Eastwood's children with his wife Maggie) had had no time adjust.  However, the concept of abortion was not something I had ever even turned over in my mid: I had never been pregnant, no close friend of mine had been pregnant,  Even Gordon, with whom I naturally talked about everything, only said, "It's something only you and Clint should decide."

"In truth, I had never contemplated having a family or not.  But "abortion," despite my pro-choice" politics, was a horrible word and, if I had allowed myself to think about it, a horrible deed.  But denial can be a short term savior, so I flipped a switch somewhere in my head and heart and had taken denial's hand.  After all, Clint had been a clear and unmovable on what he wanted me to do. I abstracted it all. Through a reliable reference, Clint had arranged for a doctor at UCLA to perform the abortion for me.  A woman.  I liked her immediately; she was sensitive and thoughtful and before I knew it, it was all over.  And I tried to forget.

But now in 1979, we had to face the same decision again.... Before I had met Clint my gynecologist had suggested and fitted for me an IUD. Because my sex life was not very active, he did not think I should be constantly taking birth control polls. Clint complained of the IUD - it was uncomfortable for him, he said.  And he too was not in favor of birth control pills, so he suggested a special clinic at Cedars Hospital where they taught a 'natural' method of birth control.  It was the same rhythm' system that historically has been used to determine the fertile days for those who are attempting to achieve pregnancy......

"Well, you know I feel the same way I did before, sweetie.  I don't really want more children." Clint told me softly.  I'm concerned about you're having another abortion, though."

***

Clint convinced Sondra that it would be best to avoid the pill and prevent any further abortions through sterilization on the basis that this was the healthiest option.

***

I could feel my heart in my throat.  It was not that Clint was taking something away from me that I had absolutely counted on or had consciously planned on... it was just that any decision from which there is no going back is a scary one. (page 171-172)

***

Clint asked Sondra if she wanted to spend her life with him or not.  He reasoned that he was a lot older than she and that the sterilization would be the best thing for their life together.  Her husband Gordon and another friend took her to the hospital; Clint was not going to make an appearance and have the press figure things out.  Then he made a show of giving Sondra the Sherman Oaks house, which she did not want. so he told her to go find herself that she could love and decorate and he would buy it for her.  In 1980 she found her house In Los Angeles - Bel Air. It cost $1.1 million - a deal at the time. Gordon, her husband, helped her design it and renovate it. The Warners Brothers studio also helped.

DO YOU THINK SONDRA SHOULD HAVE LEFT CLIFF A THIS POINT?

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