Rihanna Blasts Governor Kay Ivey Following Alabama’s Anti-Abortion Vote
The outcry on social media due to the new anti-abortion bill passed in the state of Alabama has been intense, and singer Rihanna has joined the conversation by blasting the lawmakers who were behind the vote.
Not only did she repost a photo of 25 of the men who voted for a law that bans nearly all abortions in the state, but she also called out Governor Kay Ivey, a female governor who supported the bill and even invoked the name of God while signing it on Wednesday.
“Every life is a sacred gift from God,” Governor Ivey stated, according to the Associated Press.
The pop star did not hold back when it came to blasting Ivey, writing both on Twitter and Instagram, “Governor Kay Ivey…SHAME ON YOU!!!!”
The Republican governor actually confirmed in her signing statement that the Alabama bill was only put together with the single goal of being challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, where the Republican majority is likely to overthrow Roe v. Wade and make abortion illegal nationwide.
The ban allows for women who terminate their pregnancy to be charged in almost all cases, including in the event of rape or incest and face a sentence as harsh as life in prison. If the law isn’t stopped by legal challenges, it will go into effect in six months.
“It just completely disregards women and the value of women and their voice. We have once again silenced women on a very personal issue,” said Senator Linda Coleman-Madison, a Democrat from Birmingham, Alabama.
The new legislation, which was signed on Tuesday, also punishes doctors who perform the operation at any stage of the pregnancy with a sentence of 10 to 99 years in jail. The only exception to the strict law is if a woman’s health is at serious risk and the only solution is indeed the abortion.
Many women’s rights and abortion rights advocates have already started gearing up to legally challenge the bill, with Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, saying that “we haven’t lost a case in Alabama yet and we don’t plan to start now.”
“We will see Governor Ivey in court,” she stated.
Governor Kay Ivey has an A-rating from the @NRA. Alabama has the second highest rate of gun deaths in the nation, and state laws enable domestic abusers to have easy access to guns. Are women's lives precious and sacred? https://t.co/NNAxExGPZ1
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 16, 2019
Rihanna is not the only celebrity taking to social media to criticize the Alabama senators who signed the legislation. Most recently, prominent feminist Emily Ratajkowski wrote on Instagram, “This week, 25 old white men voted to ban abortion in Alabama even in cases of incest and rape.”
“These men in power are imposing their wills onto the bodies of women in order to uphold the patriarchy and perpetuate the industrial prison complex by preventing women of low economic opportunity the right to choose to not reproduce,” she added.
