Billie Eilish, Halsey, Taylor Swift: What celebrity singers are saying about the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe Vs Wade

The Supreme Court on June 24, overturned the 50-year-old Roe vs Wade ruling, which granted women in the US the guaranteed federal constitutional protection of abortion rights. The new ruling overturning Roe vs Wade will allow around half the states to impose severe restrictions on abortions. Some states are also expected to outrightly ban the medical procedure. As per reports, at least 21 states are already working on laws to outrightly ban abortions.

After the ruling was announced by the Supreme Court, several celebrity singers expressed disappointment in the judgement.

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Celebrity artists condemn the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade

Billie Eilish speaks against the overturning of Roe Vs Wade

While performing at the Glastonbury festival, Billie Eilish spoke against the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe vs Wade. The 20-year-old artist was about to perform her song Your Power with brother Finneas when she said:

“It’s about the concept of power and how we always need to remember not to abuse it. Today is a really really dark day for women in the US. And I’m just going to say that because I can’t bear to think about it anymore in this moment.”

Eilish’s brother Finneas also took to Twitter and said that he was out of words to express how he felt:

“I don’t even know what to say other than absolutely f**k this”

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Halsey speaks against Supreme Court overturning Roe Vs Wade ruling

Halsey took to Twitter noting that they felt defeated after the Roe vs Wade ruling. They also noted that they have been advocating for reproductive rights for the longest time:

“I have been advocating for abortion, reproductive rights, and bodily integrity for as long as I have a platform and I’m running out of ways to word and frame the severity of the impact that fundamentalism has on our country.”

They further added:

“I know some of you look to my page for information or guidance but I need a little bit of time to speak to some people with more authority and experience than me and gather my thoughts. I don’t want to just contribute to antagonistic noise. I’m just defeated at the moment. "

Earlier this year, when the artist kicked off their tour in West Palm Beach, Florida, they played a video that highlighted statistics and facts about the Roe Vs Wade decision and the state of abortion rights in the country. The video played during the intro of the artist’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power track Nightmare. It concluded with the statistic that roughly one out of every three women will have an abortion during their lives.

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Marren Morris explains how she chose to have a son after careful planning

(Image via Instagram / @Maren Morris)

Country musician Marren Morris expressed disappointment in the ruling overturning Roe Vs Wade. She explained that she decided to have a child only after careful planning with her husband and fellow singer Ryan Hurd. The couple welcomed their son Andrew Hurd in March 2020. She expressed the dread with which she would have to raise a child in a country like America.

Rolling Stone quoted Morris as saying:

“I chose to try for a baby at 29. I waited until I was financially secured enough to do so, so my husband and I could provide him with everything he needed. We were lucky and got pregnant three months later. As mothers do, I really tried to think of every detail I could before he came into this world to keep him safe; pediatrician, hospital, crib, nursery sound machine, even future school he would someday go to. Every choice, every decision, a thoughtful one.”

Further adding to the statement, the singer said:

“Today, I hold my two-year-old son with tears streaming down my face because all my love and planning still wasn’t enough to protect him from being born in a country who could do this to women. Women, the ones who gave each Supreme Court Justice on the bench the right to be here, the dexterity of their pen hand. Tomorrow I will fight, but today I am grieving.”

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Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam react to Supreme Court’s decision of overturning Roe Vs Wade

Resharing a post by former US first lady Michelle Obama on Twitter, Taylor Swift expressed fear, saying:

“I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are – that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that.”

Pearl Jam, who has often been vocal about rights, in a statement against Roe vs Wade wrote:

“No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the Freedom to choose.”

They further added,

“Today’s decision impacts everyone, and it will particularly affect poor women who can’t afford to travel to access health care. We will stay active, we will not back down and we will never give up.”

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What was the Roe vs Wade ruling?

In 1973, Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, brought a lawsuit against Dallas County district attorney Henry Wade in 1973. The Roe v. Wade case resulted in a decision by the United States Supreme Court on a woman's right to an abortion. Unmarried and expecting at the time, Norma McCorvey brought a lawsuit to oppose Texas's abortion regulations. In Texas, abortion was prohibited unless it was necessary to save the mother's life.

McCorvey's attorneys, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, filed the lawsuit on her behalf and noted that the law violated the 14th Amendment Act's 'right to liberty'. They pointed out that this violated the Bill of Rights' prior guarantees for women's marital, familial, and sexual privacy.

The court determined after a series of investigations that an unborn child was never recognised by the law as a person in the truest sense. The decision at the time altered state laws governing abortion and declared the practice to be protected by constitutional 'rights to privacy'.