While there was plenty of public discourse Friday after the Supreme Court announced the decision to overturn Roe Vs. Wade that legalized abortion in the United States, some of those speaking out are now taking action to help those affected by the ruling. One of those artists is Coheed and Cambria, who revealed that they will be donating all their profits from their upcoming Oklahoma City show with My Chemical Romance to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“In light of today’s Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision and Oklahoma’s recent near-total ban on abortion, we will be donating all profits (min $25,000) from our Oklahoma City show (August 20) to the Center for Reproductive Rights,” stated the group via social media.
The choice of concerts for the band to donate their earnings is notable as just last month Oklahoma’s governor signed a bill that became the most restrictive abortion ban in the U.S.
Senate Bill 1555, viewed as a trigger law, went into effect with the Supreme Court ruling, banning doctors from performing an abortion at any point within a woman’s pregnancy with the only exceptions being to save a woman’s life or if the pregnancy was the result of rape, sexual assault or incest.
“In 1973 the United States Supreme Court blocked our voice as a people and and put our law on the shelf by holding that the United States Constitution guaranteed a right to an abortion. That decision called Roe versus Wade led to over 60 million American children not seeing the light of day and so that’s 49 years ago,” said John O’Connor, Oklahoma Attorney General, per Oklahoma City station KFOR.
“It’s devastating… It wasn’t necessarily a shock, I don’t think. But it still is devastating just to see in writing from the Supreme Court of the United States that we now have less rights than we did yesterday,” said Emily Virgin, member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
With the Supreme Court ruling, states are now allowed to dictate laws on abortion, with Oklahoma being one of the 13 states that had laws banning abortion ready to go in anticipation of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is a legal advocacy group who are continuing the fight to ensure that reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights. You can learn more and make donations here.
Per Pew Research, their most recent survey taken in March of this year found that 61 percent of U.S. adults stated that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37 percent felt that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Coheed and Cambria just released their new album, Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, this past week. You can pick it up here. And look for the band on tour at these stops.
Rock + Metal Songs With Social Messages
Music has the power to move people. It also has the power to move them to action.