Fans at Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts World Tour concert stop on Tuesday in St. Louis., Mo., were given free condoms and morning-after pills as part of an initiative supporting women’s reproductive rights within the state, the place abortion has been banned.
To hand out the contraceptives, Rodrigo — who has lengthy advocated for abortion care within the U.S. — paired up with The Missouri Abortion Fund, which offers monetary help to state residents who can’t afford an abortion.
The condoms and morning-after tablets, a type of emergency contraception usually used inside 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, have been distributed by the abortion fund as a part of a bundle utilizing Rodrigo’s branding. (Morning-after tablets should not the identical as abortion tablets, as they don’t terminate an present being pregnant, however reasonably delay or stop ovulation.)
A stacked sales space additionally provided stickers and leaflets advocating for accessible abortions in Missouri. A card included within the bundle learn, “Funding abortion? It’s a good idea, right?” in reference to Rodrigo’s track, unhealthy thought proper?
The playing cards additionally featured a QR code that introduced scanners to a web page the place they might donate to The Missouri Abortion Fund.
Rodrigo, 21, stated a portion of the proceeds from her live performance ticket gross sales might be donated to charities supporting ladies’s reproductive rights. The St. Louis present particularly noticed proceeds donated to the Missouri Abortion Fund and Right By You, a pro-abortion textual content assist line that supported The Missouri Abortion Fund’s sales space on the present.
Last month, as her toured kicked off, Rodrigo launched her Fund 4 Good initiative, wordplay on her single Good 4 U. According to the group’s web site, Fund 4 Good is “committed to building an equitable and just future for women and girls through direct support of community based non-profits that champion girls’ education, support reproductive rights and prevent gender-based violence.”
An activist from Right by You informed the Guardian the Driver’s License singer invited the non-profits to the venue, although it was their option to distribute the contraceptives.
Abortion is against the law in Missouri, besides in circumstances the place the pregnant individual’s life is in danger. The ban got here after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade in June 2022. To have an abortion, a Missouri resident should journey out of state.
Alongside Missouri, 20 different states have additionally banned or severely restricted abortion entry. Fourteen of these states, together with Alabama, Arkansas and Idaho, have made abortion unlawful.
Distribution of the contraceptives earned Rodrigo reward and scorn from Americans who both favour or oppose entry to abortion within the U.S.
One fan known as Rodrigo “brave” for distributing the contraceptives.
“To have the new generation of mainstream pop girls be this brave and this willing to be 100% clear about an issue that is SO polarizing. I have tears in my eyes it’s awesome to see,” she wrote on X.
On the alternative finish, Republican Missouri state senator Bill Eigel stated he was “horrified” by the information.
“As the father of a daughter, I am horrified by this. Olivia Rodrigo passed out an abortifacient at her concert in St. Louis last night,” Eigel wrote. “Abortion hurts women. Physical damage of course, but also psychological. Women who have had abortions have higher rates of anxiety, mental health problems, substance abuse, and suicide.”
According to the American Psychological Association, abortion isn’t linked to psychological well being points or suicidal ideation. Rather, “people who are denied abortions have worse physical and mental health, as well as worse economic outcomes,” the affiliation reported.
In the previous, Rodrigo has stated she is pro-choice. While on stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2022, shortly after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Rodrigo stated she was “devastated and terrified” by the choice.
“So many women and so many girls are going to die because of this,” Rodrigo informed the gang.
Rodrigo, whereas standing with singer Lily Allen, devoted Allen’s track F—okay You to the “five members of the Supreme Court who’ve showed us that at the end of the day they truly don’t give a s—t about freedom.”
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