The entertainment world paused to reflect on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Friday, many expressing anger and sadness.
The U.S. Supreme Court today overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The long-expected vote comes nearly 50 years after the landmark decision that headlined decades of culture wars, punctuated with sometimes violent and deadly attacks against abortion clinics and doctors who perform abortions.
“If you’re gonna talk about how divided we are as a nation, you’ll want to mention SCOTUS decisions like this one, handing power to state reps in crazy-ass gerrymandered districts and completely ignoring the will of the majority of US citizens,” Jason Isbell tweeted. “This is not what the people want.”
A user then replied to Isbell’s tweet, “If you’re upset today with the ability of murdering an innocent unborn child becoming more difficult maybe some deep reflection may be in order.” The musician quoted the tweet and fired back: “Eggs ain’t chicken. Something has to be born before it can be murdered. That’s about as simple as it gets.”
Here’s a sampling of reactions from other celebrities, including Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama and Lynda Carter:
On Thursday, satirist Jon Stewart tweeted, “Perhaps Roe can be salvaged if women reclassify their vaginas as holsters.”
Alabama-born musician Lee Bains (of Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires) tweeted, “in a few days, this government will claim to celebrate independence from tyranny—while nine unelected people in lifetime positions of power have legal authority over our entire population, & use it to take away civil rights. there are literal monarchies more democratic than that.”
Birmingham comedian and activist Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson tweeted about the ruling several times, first merely sharing the initials for late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “RBG. That’s the tweet.” His next few tweets included quoting users who disagreed with his comments on the issue.
“Star Trek” actor George Takei tweeted, “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade feels shocking, despite us having known it probably was coming. It feels so very wrong because this is the first time in our history that a constitutionally guaranteed right, one that was granted by the High Court some 50 years ago, has been stripped away by that same Court after those very justices pledged to honor existing law and precedent. They lied to us. We must not let that stand.”
Bill Gates tweeted, “This is a sad day. Reversing Roe v. Wade is an unjust and unacceptable setback. And it puts women’s lives at risk, especially the most disadvantaged.”
And more:
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