Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga are just some of the 136 artists who have signed an open letter protesting strict abortion rules in the US.
Other artists who have shown their support include Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, The 1975 and Halsey.
Planned Parenthood has teamed up with these famous faces for their Band Off My Body campaign, which aims to educate people about the need for safe and legal abortion access.
The campaign launched last weekend with a full page advert in Billboard magazine.
Banning abortion is NOT what people in America want — and we will never stand for it. Together we stand, unified with nearly 140 musicians and millions more people across the country to tell politicians: get your #BansOffMyBody!
Sign the petition: https://t.co/tPehfVEiSM pic.twitter.com/NtKOtp3vze
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) August 24, 2019
“Artists can highlight how out-of-touch some of our politicians are in this space”, Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson told Billboard in a statement.
“They can hold up a mirror and say, (to quote) Marvin Gaye, ‘What’s going on?'”
The non-profit organisation will call fans to action at music festivals over the next few months, including Jay-Z’s Made In America in Philadelphia and Atlanta’s Music Midtown event.
The goal of the protest is to get 500,000 signatures on their online petition opposing abortion bans by January 22 next year, the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which made access to safe, legal abortion a constitutional right.
So far in 2019, more than 300 bills restricting abortion access have been filed in US states and are going through legal proceedings before they come into effect.
In May, Alabama passed a bill to ban abortion in almost any case, including rape or incest, while Georgia passed the “heartbeat bill”, banning abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy, causing actors such as Kristen Wiig and Jason Bateman to pull out of filming in the state.
“I will not work in Georgia, or any other state, that is so disgracefully at odds with women’s rights”, Bateman said.
Billie Eilish also expressed her support in a statement to Billboard.
“I’m proud to be standing up for Planned Parenthood as they fight for fair and equal access to reproductive rights”, she said.
“We cannot live freely and move fully in the world when our basic right to access the reproductive health care we need is under attack. Every person deserves the right to control their body, their life and their future”.
See the full list of artists supporting Planned Parenthood here.
#Peace.Love.PlannedParenthood
