Olivia Rodrigo’s concerts will no longer feature local abortion rights groups handing out free emergency contraceptives and condoms on her Guts World Tour. However, National Network of Abortion Funds groups will still have an in-arena presence on stops on the tour through the singer’s Fund 4 Good initiative.
At Rodrigo’s St. Louis concert, the dispersion of Plan B and condoms became nationwide news due to Missouri’s near-total abortion ban and state legislators’ attempts to make access to the morning-after pill illegal.
However, the resulting publicity caused Rodrigo’s management to request that future abortion rights groups refrain from handing out emergency contraceptives at the upcoming shows, Variety reports, with Rodrigo’s team citing that “children are present at the concerts.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Missouri Abortion Fund and Right By You — who handed out the emergency contraceptives at the St. Louis gig — said that while Rodrigo invited the groups to have a booth at the arena, “It was our decision to pass out EC.”
“While we are disappointed to learn that other abortion funds will not get the same opportunity to do the same, we are encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response,” Robin Frisella, Missouri Abortion Fund’s Community Engagement Director, told Rolling Stone. “We can’t speak to why this decision was made, but we hope this conversation highlights the work being done by abortion funds every day in states across the country. We stand by our decision to hand out EC and will be increasing our efforts to provide this to our community.”
Destini Spaeth of the Prairie Abortion Fund, which will have a presence at Rodrigo’s St. Paul, Minnesota concert tonight, told Variety of the decision, “There is something really positive about a 16- or 15-year-old having a Plan B and a few condoms in her dresser to use as she needs it. Sex and sexual health tools — whether that be abortion, Plan B, condoms — are villainized because you’re [seen as being] promiscuous. We don’t look at it as a sign of responsibility. … If the kids aren’t getting the education that they need in school, at least they can rely on 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 Stone’s request for comment at press time.
After kicking off her Guts World Tour in February, Rodrigo announced the launch of Fund 4 Good, an initiative for reproductive health. Named after her hit “good 4 u,” the fund directs a share of all ticket proceeds from North American stops of the Guts tour to the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), as well as providing organizational tents for the local groups at each arena.
