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At just 22 years old, Olivia Rodrigo is a feminist pop princess powerhouse. Since she was 17, she’s been world-famous for her COVID-era hit “drivers license” and her albums Sour and Guts. She’s also been called a “high [priestess] of child sacrifice” for her reproductive rights activism empowering other young women.
Last week, Planned Parenthood honored Rodrigo with the 2025 Catalyst of Change award, recognizing her for using her platform to speak out about reproductive justice and launching the program Fund 4 Good to send proceeds from her Guts tour to local abortion funds.
At Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s Spring Into Action gala last Thursday evening in New York City, Rodrigo said, “When I play shows, I look out at crowds filled with young girls and the bond I feel with them is profound… I often wonder, ‘What happens to those girls when they leave those venues? What are their dreams? What kind of world are they returning to?’”
For the last almost three years since the end of Roe v. Wade, Rodrigo has been taking it upon herself to improve the world for her young women fans. After the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, Rodrigo and her friend Lily Allen sang Allen’s song “Fuck You” on stage at Glastonbury. Rodrigo said, “This song goes out to the justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you.”
At a Sour tour concert in Washington, D.C., in May 2022, Rodrigo made headlines for telling the crowd, “Our bodies should never be in the hands of politicians. I hope we can raise our voices to protect our right to have a safe abortion, which is a right that so many people before us have worked so hard to get.”
Rodrigo honored some of these very people at the award ceremony last week. In her speech, she paid tribute to the late Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s former president. And Rodrigo told Amanda Zurawski—also there receiving an award—“I’m just so in awe of you. You deserve this award far more than I do.”
At her Guts tour in 2023, Olivia Rodrigo created the charity Fund 4 Good, which gave proceeds from the show to community-based nonprofits including local abortion funds. (Reproductive health organizations also set up tables at concerts giving out resources like free emergency contraception, lubrication and condoms; however, they stopped after widespread media attention and backlash.)
Rodrigo donated over $2 million in Guts tour ticket sales to 10 different global charities supporting reproductive rights, girls’ education and preventing gender-based violence in regions she traveled during the tour.
At the Planned Parenthood gala, Rodrigo said, “It’s a privilege to be here tonight to support an organization that, despite countless obstacles, continues to show up with compassion, hope and dignity for women. My greatest wish is that through organizations like Planned Parenthood and the action of everyday citizens, no woman will need to sacrifice her dreams, her health or humanity because of restrictive laws or lack of resources.”
Great Job Ava Slocum & the Team @ Ms. Magazine Source link for sharing this story.
