Olivia Rodrigo has spoken out against the US Supreme Court’s potential decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which legalised abortion in 1973.
Two days after a leaked opinion draft indicated that the court’s conservative majority will uphold a Mississippi law criminalising abortion care at 15 weeks of pregnancy, Rodrigo used her platform to defend abortion access. The 19-year-old pop star took the opportunity to speak out against the draft opinion during a Washington, DC concert stop on her Sour tour.
“Because we’re in DC, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about how heartbroken I am over the Supreme Court’s potential decision,” she said, with cheers from the crowd.
“Our bodies should never be in the hands of politicians and I hope we can use our voices to protect our right to have a safe abortion, which is a right that so many people before us have worked so hard to get,” the driver’s license singer said.
On Monday, Politico published the leaked draft opinion, which appeared to be authored by Justice Samuel Alito, and which stated that he, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted to overturn key rulings Roe and Planned Parenthood v Casey after hearing oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he wrote. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives”.
The impact of such a decision would outlaw abortion throughout the US and would allow states to create their own laws surrounding abortion.
Rodrigo joins a number of high-profile figures who have strongly criticised the Supreme Court decision, and publicly defended abortion rights.
On Tuesday, Phoebe Bridgers revealed that she had an abortion in October of last year while she was on tour. “I went to Planned Parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access,” the 27-year-old musician wrote on social media, adding several links to abortion funds.
During an episode of The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg received applause from the audience when she declared abortion a “human issue,” rather than a religious one.
“It has nothing to do with your religion, this is not a religious issue, this is a human issue,” she said. “This law came about because people wanted people to have somewhere safe and somewhere clean. Getting an abortion is not easy, making that decision is not easy.”
