Excerpt of interview by Bill O'Reilly with actress Patricia Heaton -- The O'Reilly Factor, October 1, 2002

 
Patricia Heaton and Bill O'Reilly

Publication Date: October 02, 2002


O'REILLY: All right. A couple of interesting things in your book, and we -- put it this way, ladies and gentlemen. If we have somebody on here, the book's not going to be a dog. If the book's bad, we're not going to have them on here.

So you are pro-life in a town...

HEATON: That's right.

O'REILLY: ... that is almost 100 percent pro-choice. How does that impact on you?

HEATON: Well, you know, I'm a chairman of Feminists for Life, and so I think that, because of that, we have an interesting stand that most people don't -- haven't heard before, which is being pro-life can be a feminist issue.

The early feminists were pro-life. And really abortion is a huge disservice to women, and it hasn't been presented that way. So -- so it's a -- there's a sort of an in for me because of that take on it.

O'REILLY: Do you take any heat from your peers out there?

HEATON: I did. I mean, I did originally. I vote Republican because of my pro-life stance, and, of course, that was a real hot-button issue when Bill Clinton was first elected.

I mean, people really -- I wore a Quayle-Bush button, and literally people would stop and look at the button the and look at me and give me dirty looks and, you know, say nasty things to me.

I think, since 9/11, a lot of that has calmed down a little bit.

O'REILLY: But, still, I mean, if Susan Sarandon or Barbra Streisand were here, I mean, they wouldn't talk to you. They would turn their back on you.

HEATON: You know what? It's not that polarized. I mean, people know me first as an actress and friend.

O'REILLY: But if they knew. If they knew, they...

HEATON: Some people have had that reaction, but I wouldn't say all of them.

O'REILLY: The reason I'm saying it is it's a very emotional issue, as you know.

HEATON: Yes.

O'REILLY: Tremendously emotionally charged.

HEATON: Yes, yes.

O'REILLY: And I believe it's been exploited by politicians. I think it's a human-rights issue.

HEATON: Yes.

O'REILLY: Would you ban abortion?

HEATON: As -- Feminists for Life -- what we're trying to do is support women, and so what we want to do is for -- reach women on campus -- college campuses so that, when they get pregnant, they can find housing. They can find money they need to stay in school.

O'REILLY: So you're giving -- you're putting an alternative track out there.

HEATON: Yes. I think pro-choice is a ridiculous -- you know...

O'REILLY: But it all comes down to...

HEATON: ... name.

O'REILLY: ... would you ban it if you were a Supreme Court justice? Would you vote to ban it?

HEATON: Yes.

O'REILLY: You would?

HEATON: Yes.

O'REILLY: OK. Now that, obviously, takes guts in Hollywood because, in Hollywood, there's a subtext that, if you don't play the game, you know, you could lose jobs.

HEATON: Yes.

O'REILLY: Did you ever think of it?

HEATON: Yes, I've thought about it. On a personal level, as a Christian, it will not be Barbra Streisand I'm standing in front of when I have to make an accounting of my life.

O'REILLY: Yes. You're not going to put your resume up to...

HEATON: Yes, You know, so she...

O'REILLY: That's a good point.

HEATON: She will not be in charge of, you know, whether I get my wings or not. So, ultimately, if I had to, I could pack all this up and do something else. There's three chapters in my book about all the survival jobs I've worked. I'm very happy to go back to that if I...

O'REILLY: So you -- all right. So you're putting your moral -- your moral beliefs...

HEATON: Life is very short.

O'REILLY: ... in front of your career.

HEATON: Life is short. My mother died when I was 12. There's no guarantee that we're going to be here tomorrow.


Priests for Life
PO Box 236695 • Cocoa, FL 32923
Tel. 321-500-1000, Toll Free 888-735-3448 • Email: mail@priestsforlife.org