Olivia Rodrigo has taken her advocacy on the road.
During the St. Louis stop of her Guts World Tour, the singer-songwriter made free contraceptives available to all concertgoers. The move was a collaborative effort between Rodrigo’s team and local organizations Missouri Abortion Fund and Right by You, which distributed boxes of condoms and the morning-after pill (Julie) at St. Louis’ Enterprise Center. The organization also passed out cards with QR codes that led to abortion access resources.
“This is just a normal part of what many abortion funds, including Missouri Abortion Fund, bring to our community tabling events,” a spokesperson for MAF told Today. “We want to ensure that Missourians have maximum control over their own reproductive health care.”
The March 12 show went down less than two years after the Show-Me State started to enforce its trigger ban to prohibit abortion almost entirely. Rodrigo addressed the overturning of Roe v. Wade during her performance at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival in the UK.
“I’m devastated and terrified that so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this,” she told the crowd before performing “Fuck You” alongside Lilly Allen. “I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who have showed us that at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a shit about freedom. The song is for the Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you!"
Ahead of her Guts Tour, Rodrigo announced the launch of her Fund 4 Good initiative, which aims to support reproductive rights organizations, like the National Network of Abortion Funds in North America.
“The Fund 4 Good works to support all women, girls and people seeking reproductive health freedom,” Rodrigo said in a TikTok video. “The fund will directly support community-based non-profits that champion things like girls’ education, support reproductive rights, and prevent gender-based violence.”
After the photo of a Rodrigo fan holding the emergency contraception (EC) went viral, the singer’s team prohibited the distribution of these items at future shows— citing concerns about children getting their hands on them and the media attention the photo generated, Jezebel reports.
Some funds, like the Prairie Abortion Fund had reportedly prepared hundreds of boxes of EC but are now unable to hand them out to concertgoers.
“We are missing the opportunity to share our resources and this feels almost performative when we have actionable things, like EC, that we could hand out to young people who encounter so many barriers to care,” said Destini Spaeth, chair of Prairie Abortion Fund, to Jezebel.
The fund was said to still have a presence at Friday’s concert in Saint Paul, Minnesota with buttons, stickers, beanies, and resource pamphlets.
