Billie Eilish headlined the first weekend of the Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas over the weekend. During her Saturday night performance, Eilish took a moment to comment on the state’s restrictive abortion laws.
Under the new measures, ushered in by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, abortions are almost entirely illegal. The measures were signed into law in May 2021 and prohibit pregnant people from getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
Eilish was understandably disgusted by the hard-right law changes. “When they made that shit a law, I almost didn’t want to do the show,” she said. “I wanted to punish this fuckin’ place for allowing that to happen here.”
Eilish, who was headlining the festival as part of the tour behind her second album, Happier Than Ever, reconsidered this stance. “But then I remembered that it’s you guys that are the fuckin’ victims, and you deserve everything in the world,” she said, while several screens lit up with the slogan “Bans Off Our Bodies”.
Eilish then asked the Texas crowd to join her in raising a middle finger, before yelling: “My body, my fucking choice!”
Billie Eilish speaks out against Texas’s new abortion law during her set at Austin City Limits:
“When they made that shit a law, I almost didn't want to do the show, because I wanted to punish this fucking place for allowing that to happen here… My body, my fucking choice!” pic.twitter.com/U84pNYtN7G
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 3, 2021
In other Billie Eilish news, the US performer has been announced as the first headliner for Glastonbury 2022. Eilish will be 20 years old by the time the festival rolls around, making her the youngest ever solo headliner in the festival’s 50 year history. She’ll be headlining the Pyramid Stage on Friday, 24th June.
