Zara Larsson’s Abortion Comments Are Helping To Break Stigma

Zara Larsson is truly a queen.

She’s had a successful career rebrand based on a dolphin meme. Her latest album Midnight Sun is banger after banger. And she’s actively pro-choice. Obsessed with her.

Recently, Zara made some comments about abortion that rubbed some people the wrong way — but it was the reason that people were rubbed the wrong way that Zara wants to talk about.

A few weeks back the ‘Lush Life’ singer replied to a fan’s TikTok saying: “I didn’t know I was pregnant here, but at least my baby got to hear midnight sun before I aborted it,” alongside a video of Zara performing.

Zara replied with: “I killed the performance, and then you killed it after the performance purrrrrr.”

 

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A post shared by Zara Larsson (@zaralarsson)

This comment led to some amount of criticism from those who felt like abortion wasn’t something to be joked about.

They said that abortion shouldn’t be spoken of so flippantly, and that Zara should apologise for making light of a situation that so many women around the world experience. But that’s exactly the point Zara was trying to make.

In a followup TikTok, she said: “I actually wanna have a little one-on-one with the people who […] were like, this is not something to joke about.

“I am so pro-choice. I am as pro-choice as the next person, but abortion is a very serious topic, and I just want to know why that is.

“Why do you feel like abortion is only okay when it’s a very hard decision, when it’s something that women have to struggle with going through, when it’s emotionally or physically painful?”

@zaralarsson And THATS on #healthcare ♬ original sound – Zara Larsson

Zara went on to say that there are going to be plenty of people in her comments who simply don’t believe abortion is healthcare, and that she’s not going to argue with them.

“We’re so fundamentally different in how we view the world,” she said. “Abortion is healthcare.”

Zara’s comments come during a time of restriction for women’s healthcare, particularly in the US. The 2022 reversal of Roe v Wade saw a near total ban of abortion in 13 states, with varying restrictions in others.

These new laws have led to serious concerns around the lack of accessible healthcare in states were abortion is largely banned, except for in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

 

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Many women in the States are now being forced to travel elsewhere for abortion services — journeys which can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money.

It is these restrictions that shouldn’t be made light of, for they are what is serious. Like Zara says, abortion is healthcare, and a reality for countless women around the world.

Abortion has, and will continue, to happen in places where it is restricted, irrespective of any laws that may or may not be in place.

Such laws just make accessing abortion more difficult, and more costly, than it should be.