Olivia Rodrigo defends Roe v Wade: "I hope we can raise our voices to protect our right to have a safe abortion"

Pop singer Olivia Rodrigo has joined the growing collective of celebrities condemning the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe V Wade.

Rodrigo made the statement live onstage at last night's concert in Washington D.C on her 'Sour' world tour. “Because we’re in D.C., I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say how heartbroken I am over the Supreme Court’s potential decision,” she told the crowd, "Our bodies should never be in the hands of politicians, I hope we can raise 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.”

Fellow artists including Phoebe Bridgers and Halsey have used their social media platforms to contribute to the women's rights discussion.

"I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour," Bridgers wrote in a Twitter post, "I went to planned parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access." The indie singer also shared a link letting her followers know how to take action.

New mother Halsey posted, “This is a cruel attack on our fundamental right to choose if and when to have a child. I felt this way before I became a mother and I feel this way even more now after having my son.”

If the court goes through with this decision, Americans will no longer be able to rely on abortion as a federally protected right. Instead, each state would be able to individually decide the extent of legality. It is likely that around half of US States - conservative red states including the majority of the country's southern and midwest regions - would enact bans or restrictions as soon as possible.

The threat to abortion rights in the US was leaked in a "draft opinion", written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, which indicated that the US Supreme Court "has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision," as reported by Politico. The outlet have stated that the leaked document is "a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision."

Roe vs. Wade was put in place in 1973, establishing the constitutional right to abortion within the first three months of pregnancy. According to a CNN poll, just 30% of Americans disagree with Roe vs. Wade, while a large majority (69%) do not wish for the bill to be overturned. Statistics show that how most Americans feel about abortion is being disproportionately represented by the conservative-majority Supreme Court.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in 2020 opened a spot in the Supreme Court, which was filled by Trump-appointed conservative Amy Coney Barrett and tipped the scales toward a 6-3 conservative majority. Many activists who fought for access to reproductive rights are now returning nearly fifty years later to begin the fight all over again.

💬 | “Our bodies should never be in the hands of politicians, i hope we can raise 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.”

— Olivia tonight at #SOURTOURdc!

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— Olivia Rodrigo Daily (@DailyRodrigo) May 5, 2022