In the wake of the announcement that Alabama will be putting a new abortion law into effect, celebrities are speaking up against the decision that would put women’s lives in danger once it goes into effect in six months. Travis Scott, who performed at Hangout Festival in Alabama’s Gulf Shores beach area last weekend, announced that he would be supporting Planned Parenthood to protest the new law. The rapper announced during his performance that all of the money generated from his merchandise sales would be donated to Planned Parenthood.
New Abortion Law
Alabama lawmakers voted on the new abortion law just a few weeks ago, but it could be up to six months before it goes into effect. In that time, protestors and organizations hope to combat the new law before it has the potential to impact too many people. Although the law makes a very slim exception for abortion if it is found that carrying a pregnancy would have life or death risks on the pregnant woman’s body, it aims to eliminate the legality of abortion altogether. Lawmakers chose not to make exceptions for cases or rape or incest, even if it means that a child must carry a fetus to full term.
The new law not only aims to force women to carry pregnancies to full-term against their will, but it aims to persecute them if they are found to have had the procedure regardless. Under the new law, women who go through with the medical procedure could face up to 99 years in prison and face felony charges (if this doesn’t infuriate you, it should!). The New York Times expects that a heavy legal battle against the lawmakers and new abortion law will delay the laws from going into effect if not shoot them down altogether.
While the new Alabama law may be the most barbaric of them all, the war on women has just begun. Other lawmakers throughout the United States are voting stricter regulations on abortion into effect. States like Missouri have made changes to their abortion laws. Meanwhile, states like Nevada have opted to loosen their laws on abortion in effort to support women’s health.
Travis Scott
“I wanna just donate my net profits from our merch today to Planned Parenthood,” said Travis Scott during his set at Hangout Festival last weekend. “I love y’all and I just want everyone to know that love is the strongest thing we can have,” he continued. The rapper chose to donate all of the proceeds from the sales of his merchandise to Planned Parenthood in effort to both protest the new laws and shift the conversation toward how protesters can help women during this time.
Other rappers such as Offset have also expressed their anger toward Republican lawmakers in southern states. Offset, who is from Georgia, tweeted his anger over the new laws after they were voted into legislation. “To force a rape victim to keep a child is SLAVORY IM NOT PROUD TO SAY IM FROM AMERICA!!!” said Offset in a tweet that was posted on May 18.
