Billie Eilish delivered a fiery rebuke of Texas’ new abortion law this weekend, saying she’s “sick and tired of old men” cracking down on women’s reproductive rights.
The seven-time Grammy winner told the crowd at the 2021 Austin City Limits Festival on Saturday that she’d considered scrapping that night’s performance in protest of the controversial legislation, which took effect last month.
“When they made that shit a law, I almost didn’t want to do the show, because I wanted to punish this fucking place for allowing that to happen here,” Eilish said, as captured in a video shared by PopCrave on social media. “But then I remembered that it’s you guys that are the fucking victims, and you deserve everything in the world. We need to tell them to shut the fuck up!”
Texas’ law prohibits abortion at six weeks, before many women know they’re pregnant. It also offers financial incentives to private citizens who help enforce the ban and does not include exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of incest or rape.
Eilish, 19, previously expressed her support for abortion rights as part of Planned Parenthood’s #BansOffMyBody campaign in 2019.
“We cannot live freely and move fully in the world when our basic right to access the reproductive health care we need is under attack,” she said in an open letter released in conjunction with the campaign, which was also backed by Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Lizzo, among other stars. “Every person deserves the right to control their body, their life, and their future.”
And Eilish ― who has become more politically outspoken in recent months ― doubled down on that stance at her concert this weekend.
“My body, my fucking choice,” she declared as the words “Bans Off Our Bodies” appeared on the screen behind her.
Eilish wasn’t the only one who used her appearance at the 2021 festival to speak out against the Lone Star State’s conservative politics. Her brother and longtime collaborator Finneas offered similar sentiments during his performance that same day, reportedly pledging to donate his entire paycheck for the night to Planned Parenthood.