Rage Against The Machine Respond To Roe V. Wade Decision, Pledge $475k To Reproductive Rights Orgs
Rage Against The Machine have shared a statement about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, ending the right to an abortion in America after nearly 50 years. “We are disgusted by the repeal of Roe V. Wade and the devastating impact it will have on tens of millions of people,” the band shared on their social-media accounts and Tom Morello’s personal accounts. “Over half of the country (26 states) is likely to ban or seriously restrict abortion very soon, if not immediately, which will have a disproportionate impact on poor, working class, and undocumented BIPOC communities.”
The band also pledged $475k to reproductive rights organizations in Wisconsin and Illinois, writing:
“To date, our fans have raised $475,000.00 from the sale of our charity tickets at Alpine Valley and the United Center. We are donating that money to reproductive rights organizations in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Like the many women who have organized sophisticated railroads of resistance to challenge these attacks on our collective reproductive freedom, we must continue to resist.”
In his caption, Morello told a story about his great grandmother dying from an illegal, unsafe abortion, writing: “My great grandmother, Mary Maude Fitzgerald, died from an illegal, unsafe abortion. Her widower, Thomas Fitzgerald, an itinerant worker, couldn’t raise their 3 kids alone and sent them off to families that used them as servants. He died alone of TB in a work camp. #WeWillNotGoBack”
RATM have joined in the chorus of high-profile musicians — such as Taylor Swift, Jack White, Phoebe Bridgers — condemning the reversal of Roe V. Wade. Bridgers, performing at Glastonbury, led a chant of “Fuck the Supreme Court!,” adding, “Fuck that shit. Fuck America. Like, fuck you. All these irrelevant old motherfuckers trying to tell us what to do with our fucking bodies.”