Taylor Swift leads celebrity reactions to Roe v Wade decision

Taylor Swift has led a tidal wave of horrified celebrity reactions to the US Supreme Court decision that will strip abortion rights from millions.

US pop star Taylor Swift has led celebrity reactions to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a landmark ruling, which will result in abortion rights being stripped from millions of women.

Roe v Wade, which in 1973 provided the constitutional right to abortions up until foetal viability, was sensationally overturned on Friday, local time, in a decision that promises to further drive political divisions across America.

The court voted 6-3, along party lines, in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation, which involved Mississippi’s attempt to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“Abortion presents a profound moral question,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion. “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.”

Abortion-rights activists demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. Picture: Nathan Howard/Getty Images/AFP

Justice Alito added: “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

The news has left countless people reeling, with Hollywood A-listers condemning it on their social media accounts.

Swift, 32, said she was “absolutely terrified”, as she shared a lengthy statement from former US First Lady Michelle Obama, who described her “heartbreak” over the decision.

I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are - that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that. https://t.co/mwK561oxxl

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 24, 2022

Glastonbury has also become a political protest after the iconic festival kicked off in the UK this week, with singer Billie Eilish addressing the news during her headline set.

“Today is a really, really dark day for women in the US,” the 20-year-old said. “I’m just going to say that because I can’t bear to think about it any longer.”

Billie Eilish addressed the Supreme Court’s decision at Glastonbury. Picture: Kate Green/Getty Images for ABA

Meanwhile US singer Phoebe Bridgers implored the crowd to scream, “F**k the Supreme Court.”

Over on Twitter, Oscar winning actress Halle Berry dubbed the result “bulls***” and a “war on women”, with Elizabeth Banks’ expert response summing up the news in a simple sentence: “Everybody gets a gun but nobody gets bodily autonomy.”

The Court uses religious dogma to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. This Court is the American Taliban.

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) June 24, 2022

Everybody gets a gun but nobody gets bodily autonomy. America.

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) June 24, 2022

just because you’re not an American citizen does not mean the overturning of Roe V Wade is none of your business. if you support womens rights and human rights you NEED to be vocal about how drastic and appalling the overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion is.

— Charli (@charli_xcx) June 24, 2022

And so it goes….Gutted. Now more than ever we have to use our voice and power! WE the people……🙏🏿🙏🏿https://t.co/8gFi0AbNSQ

— Viola Davis (@violadavis) June 24, 2022

Don’t like abortions? Ignore them like you ignore school shootings. #RoeVWade

— NÄ“v Schulman (@NevSchulman) June 24, 2022

They did it. THEY DID IT TO US! #SCOTUS has overturned #RoevWade, enshrined in the Constitution as settled law for over 50 years. How dare they? This #SCOTUS is absolutely tone-deaf to the will and even the actual needs of the American people. #WakeUpAmerica

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) June 24, 2022

Not too long ago, this would have been dystopian sci-fi. But the legacy of the 2016 election and the indelible mark of the GOP is printed here in black and white. How much farther this will go once again depends on American voters. Blame extremism or apathy, but this is America: pic.twitter.com/WefAworLlW

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) June 24, 2022

I know some of you look to my page for information or guidance but I need a little bit of time to speak to some people with more authority and experience than me and gather my thoughts. I don’t want to just contribute to antagonistic noise. I’m just defeated at the moment.

— h (@halsey) June 24, 2022

Watching a Constitutional right be stripped away is horrific. A woman should have the right to CHOOSE what she wants to do with her own body. End of story.

— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) June 24, 2022

The decision means abortion rights will now be determined by individual states. Almost half of the country’s states have or will pass laws that ban abortion, while others have enacted strict measures regulating the procedure.

Some dormant state laws will be reactivated, and will make it illegal to have an abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Anyone who performs an abortion in states that criminalise it will be charged with a felony and face up to 15 years jail time.

Hailey Bieber said she was "speechless."

Kim Kardashian also expressed her disappointment.

US President Joe Biden criticised the Supreme Court’s decision and called for Congress to codify the right to an abortion – something that’s unlikely to say the least, given the split balance of power in the Senate.

“It’s a sad day for the court and the country. Today the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away a constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognised,” Mr Biden said in delivered remarks from the White House on Friday afternoon, local time.

“It was three justices named by one president, Donald Trump, who were the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country. Make no mistake, this decision is a culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law.

“It’s a realisation of an extreme ideology and a tragic error of the Supreme Court in my view.

“The court has done what it’s never done before, expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans that had already been recognised. The court’s decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences.”