For Olivia Rodrigo Fans, Abortion Rights Are Nonnegotiable in 2024 | KQED (2024)

This story is part of the KQED series The Fandom Vote, exploring the election-year concerns and voting preferences of significant pop culture fanbases.

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wo years ago, pop star Olivia Rodrigo had a direct message for the five Supreme Court justices that ruled in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade: “We hate you.”

“I’m devastated and terrified that so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this,” Rodrigo said onstage at England’s Glastonbury Festivalbefore dedicating the Lily Allen song “f*ck You” to the justices, calling each out by name. “[They] have shown us that, at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a sh*t about freedom,” Rodrigo said to the massive crowd.

The 21-year-old singer has been no less vocal on her wildly popular — and critically acclaimed — Guts world tour, which came to San Francisco for two shows in early August. Rodrigo has partnered with the National Network of Abortion Funds, an organization dedicated to increasing access to abortion care across the United States, and has donated a portion of ticket sales to local and statewide abortion care groups.

Rodrigo’s sharp, bold songs are also steeped in stylistic references to riot-grrrl, the 1990s punk feminist movement that championed reproductive rights and abortion access.

Reproductive rights are a cause that resonates strongly with fans, like 20-year-old Elizabeth Feliciano, who traveled from Reno to the Bay Area to see Rodrigo.

“I’m Christian myself, and I don’t think I’d ever get an abortion. But I think it’s up to everyone to have a choice in their own body,” Feliciano said. “I also think our country’s made on the premises of free religion. So we can’t force religion on anyone.”

Feliciano was one of nearly 20,000 attendees at Chase Center in San Francisco for Rodrigo’s Friday show. Excitement buzzed in the air as fans — clad in Rodrigo’s instantly recognizable black-purple-surly protagonist-of-a-teen-movie Y2K-meets-’90s aesthetic — took pictures, bought merch and lounged in the sun as they waited for the gates to open.

With a pivotal presidential election just months away, many fans also spoke candidly of their anxiety about the future of the country. Along with reproductive rights, fans raised concerns about the cost of living, immigration justice, and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

The recent change at the top of the Democratic ticket, meanwhile, brought new enthusiasm.

“[The election] makes me very nervous, but I’m glad that Kamala Harris is running,” said 21-year-old Lauryn Ige of Wailuku, Hawaii. “It’d be really cool to have a woman for president. I like what she stands for. I very much care about the topic of women’s bodies and them choosing.”

Rodrigo has already shown support for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, reposting an Instagram video of Harris vowing to restore abortion access in the country.Harris has made abortion a major pillar of her campaign and has beenmore vocal about it than her predecessor, Biden.Abortion care is also a cause that has greatly mobilized voters — especially women — in states where it was at risk of being further restricted or even banned.

Harris’ nomination has also energized a Gen Z and millennial voting bloc, many of whom had been open about the despondency they previously felt about Biden as the Democratic candidate. But much of the ensuing media coverage has now speculated on whether or not Harris can actually bring more young people to the polls.

‘Strong in what we believe in’

In California, just 37% of youth voters — ages 18 to 29, as defined by Tufts University’s data — turned out for the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In the 2020 presidential election between Trump and Biden, youth voter turnout rose to 54%.

For some at Rodrigo’s San Francisco concert, November’s general election will be their first time voting.

“I’m hoping that all the young voters come out to vote, especially because we’re one of the percentage of people that don’t vote,” said 20-year-old Heather Esguerra from Santa Clara. “So hopefully, because she’s in the running now, we all come out to vote.”

Esguerra was attending the concert with San Jose’s Aarty Sharma, 20, who said she hoped Harris would reinstate abortion rights nationally.

“At the end of the day, it’s the woman’s choice. It’s our body,” Sharma said. “I think we should have an opinion about it at the very minimum, and we should be able to make that choice for ourselves.”

Sharma gave a nervous laugh as she added: “I’m really, really hoping that it will change for the better. Because right now it’s not looking too good, I’m not gonna lie.”

Esguerra said that no matter who was inaugurated in January 2025, she believed in the power of Gen Z to steer the direction of the country in the coming years.

“We are very strong in what we believe in,” Esguerra said. “Especially us being so young and fighting for what we want. I think it’s very good for us to already start doing that, despite what’s going to happen with our government.”

As Esguerra talked, another one of their friends — 19-year-old Khyati Mahajan from Santa Clara — brightened up.

“Because of [Esguerra’s] answer, I feel hopeful,” Mahajan said. “I felt very sad before because global warming, and everything is really bad right now. People are not taking action.”

For Mahajan, Harris is “more of a moderate candidate than I would have liked. I definitely want someone more liberal, who’s going to make more change.”

‘It’s kind of scary thinking we could lose our rights’

Richmond residents Linda Scruggs, 24, and Betsy Romero, 23, also hope Harris will pull through in November. “I am concerned that we’re going down a really bad path, like going back to the past instead of progressing as a country,” Scruggs said.

“I just think our country’s going really towards a racist, sexist environment,” she added. “So many people have already fought to change that.”

As a Mexican American, Romero said the Republican party’s stance on abortion and immigration particularly worried her.

“It’s kind of scary thinking we could lose our rights as not only women but immigrants,” Romero said.

Romero said she recognized the importance of influencers and celebrities like Rodrigo in politics. In fact, Romero became more interested in politics by following New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel, where the politician plays games with other popular streamers. Now, she’s planning to help with voter registration on her college campus.

“Celebrities are a great way to get their audiences to contribute [to causes],” Romero said.

Twenty-year-old San Jose resident Ananya Bahugudumbi will also be voting for the first time this November. She feels that stars like Rodrigo have a definite responsibility to their younger fans who look up to them. “Personally, if I had that kind of influence, I would be using it to talk about the things that are important to me and that are important to the world as a whole,” she said.

But Bahugudumbi also wanted elected representatives to keep the average American in mind when making decisions. “There’s a lot of issues in the world going on right now, and I think that a lot of it is influenced by money. People who have power,” Bahugudumbi said.

Elected representatives, she said, “should remember that the people who are voting for them are like the people here at this concert.”