Mariah Carey has expressed “disappointment” over having to try to explain the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade to her young daughter.
On Friday (24 June), the Supreme Court announced that Roe v Wade had been overturned, striking down the constitutional right to abortion in America.
The decision marks a grim reversal of abortion rights protections in the US that could force millions of American women to carry pregnancies to term or seek care in states or countries where it is protected.
The ruling effectively ends 50 years of federal protections for abortion access, with the Supreme Court leaving it up to states to determine whether to ban the procedure – which will quickly become criminalised or effectively outlawed in roughly half the US.
Carey on Friday joined a long list of celebrities to speak out against the Supreme Court’s ruling.
On Friday, the “All I Want for Christmas is You” singer tweeted: “It is truly unfathomable and disheartening to have to try to explain to my 11-year-old daughter why we live in a world where women’s rights are disintegrating in front of our eyes.”
Since the ruling, multiple personalities – including actors, authors, politicians and singers – have condemned the Supreme Court’s decision.
Reacting to the news, Taylor Swift confessed that she was “absolutely terrified,” in a Twitter post supporting remarks by Michelle Obama.
Other singers that have spoken up against the Supreme Court include Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers, who performed at the Glastobury Festival in Somerset, UK on Friday.
While Eilish, the youngest headline act in the festival’s history, said the ruling marked a “dark day for women in the US”, Bridgers led chants of “f*** the Supreme Court” during her set.
The court’s majority decision was written by Justice Samuel Alito. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” he concluded on behalf of the court. “Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
A draft of the court’s opinion was released in May 2022 in an unprecedented leak. At that time, more celebrities, including Rosanna Arquette and Amber Tamblyn, posted in protest.
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