[ad_1]
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
Olivia Rodrigo’s concerts will no longer feature local abortion rights groups handing out emergency contraception and free condoms on her Guts World tour. However, groups from the National Abortion Fund Network will continue to have an arena presence at tour stops through the singer’s Fund 4 Good initiative.
At Rodrigo’s concert in St. Louis, the spread of Plan B and condoms became national news due to Missouri’s near-total ban on abortion and attempts by state legislators to make access to the birth control pill illegal. day after.
However, the resulting publicity prompted Rodrigo’s management to request that future abortion rights groups refrain from handing out emergency contraceptives at upcoming shows. Variety reportsand Rodrigo’s team cited that “children are present at the concerts.”
In a statement to Rolling StoneThe Missouri Abortion Fund said that while Rodrigo invited groups to have a booth at the stadium, “it was our decision to hand out EC.”
“While we are disappointed to learn that other abortion funds will not have the same opportunity to do the same, we are encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response,” Robin Frisella, community engagement director for the Missouri Abortion Fund, told Rolling Stone. “We can’t explain why this decision was made, but we hope this conversation highlights the work abortion funds do every day in states across the country. “We stand by our decision to deliver EC and will increase our efforts to provide this to our community.”
Destini Spaeth of the Prairie Abortion Fund, who will be at Rodrigo’s concert tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, said Variety of the decision, “There is something really positive about a 16 or 15 year old girl having a Plan B and some condoms on her dresser to use when she needs them. The tools of sex and sexual health, whether abortion, Plan B, or condoms, are villainous because you are (seen as) promiscuous. We don’t see it as a sign of responsibility. … If children are not getting the education they need in school, they can at least rely on the reproductive health organizations in their communities to get that information and resources to them.”
Rodrigo’s team and several abortion rights groups did not respond to Rolling StoneRequest for comments at the time of this edition.
After kicking off his Guts World Tour in February, Rodrigo announced the launch of Fund 4 Good, a reproductive health initiative. The fund, named after his hit “good 4 u,” allocates a portion of all ticket revenue from the North American stops of the Viscera tour to the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), in addition to providing organizational tents for local groups at each stadium.