Dear Gossips,
Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Mescal were at the Met Gala together on Monday night. It was their red carpet debut. There are rumours that they’re engaged after she supposedly referred to him as her “fiancé” at Coachella. The Met Gala was also a Normal People reunion and Phoebe and Paul at one point posed with Daisy Edgar-Jones:
But that’s not why I’m starting the day with Phoebe. The reason we’re talking about Phoebe is because this is what she posted on her social media accounts yesterday:
This of course is in response to the leak of the draft decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v Wade published by Politico on Monday. Like I wrote in my post about Cecily Strong last November, when she talked about her abortion on SNL’s Weekend Update, it is exasperating that women like Phoebe and Cecily have to make public a private decision they had every right to make about their bodies. For Cecily, she was sharing her experience because of the bullsh-t law that was passed in Texas severely restricting abortion – which is one of the big catalysts for what the US could be facing in two months as the high court moves to strike down one of the most important decisions in its history.
The ultimate exasperation, of course, is that this is still a f-cking debate. It is not a debate. Reproductive rights are human rights. And that human right is being threatened – so it is not hyperbolic to say that this is a crisis. And it’s always a crisis because gender equality still doesn’t exist, which is why people still think they can legislate what a woman can and can’t do with her body, creating an even more dangerous environment for women who could literally lose their lives. So for those of you in reading this in Canada who don’t think that the mess happening in the US has an impact on us? We don’t have gender equality here either, so the same forces at play that have been relentlessly infringing upon reproductive rights are advancing on this country too. First of all, there are no borders to gender equality and the threat to women in the US is a threat to women everywhere. And second, there are already restrictions on abortion in several provinces in Canada as limiting access is one of the most effective weapons used by those trying to chip away at reproductive rights. This is how they’ve been doing it in the US. Hundreds of Canadians get abortions in the US every year. If SCOTUS repudiates Roe v Wade, that could also mean more American women coming to Canada for abortions. Reproductive rights may also be a factor in the Conservative Party leadership race so of course what’s happening south of us matters to us here. It’s irresponsible to pretend it doesn’t.
Phoebe Bridgers, in her posts about her abortion, linked to The Cut’s article “Donate To An Abortion Fund Right Now”. Here are a few more:
This is GQ’s piece on “Where To Donate To Support Access To Abortions”.
Fader also has a post on “where you can donate to support abortion rights in the US”.
And this is Mashable’s article on how “abortion funds and reproductive justice networks need help”.
I am specifically highlighting pop culture outlets because culture and society cannot be separated and this is how we can use our platforms.
PEOPLE put together a list yesterday of celebrities who have used their platforms to share their abortion stories, both to destigmatise abortion and amplify the fact that abortion is common, and to raise awareness about the very real threat to this human right.
Thanks for your time.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
