Cecile Richards and Planned Parenthood rocked the Crescent Ballroom with the help of local bands on Thursday to raise awareness among young voters in Phoenix.
A week after her appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was invited to participate in Thursday’s Rock ‘n’ Roe 2012, a concert benefiting the nonprofit’s Arizona chapter.
The name of the event refers to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 1973 allowing women the right to choose to have an abortion.
The concert comes amid several local and national proposals from Congress to limit the rights of women, according to Richards. One such proposal is HB 2625, an Arizona bill that, if passed, would allow employers to deny access to insurance for contraceptives.
“This last year has been brutal,” Richards said. “The attacks aren’t just about the Constitution anymore. They’re personal.”
Several musicians along with their fans showed up to support Planned Parenthood. Country, folk and punk rock shared the stage to reach out to a variety of fans.
“I remember Planned Parenthood when I was in college,” said Rita Rose, singer for Barefoot and Pregnant, one of the performing bands. “They were there for us when there wasn’t much else.”
Katie Hobbs, a state representative and advocate for Planned Parenthood took the stage between performances to ask Arizonans to get involved.
“There’s sort of a war on women going on in America right now, and it’s going to awaken a lot of people,” she said.
Event organizer Carla Sandind said the anger toward the women who are in favor of Planned Parenthood is unwarranted, and that there are many misconceptions about what the organization stands for.
“The term ‘pro-abortion’ is ridiculous,” Sandind said. “It implies we want to see abortions performed, and that’s not our goal.”
According to Richards, simple information like this is the reason the use of social media to spread awareness among young people and college students is so important.
“Last year several politicians targeted Planned Parenthood because they had the wrong idea about who we are,” Richards said. “But young people got involved online and informed each other, and the rest was history.”
Bryan Howard, CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said there has been great support from Phoenix residents. He counted “tens of thousands” of activists online in Arizona.
The online community is what makes organizing events like Rock ‘n’ Roe successful, Howard said.
Fans like Luisa Valdez heard about the event the day before, from an invite on Facebook.
“It’s a great way to donate and hear some awesome bands at the same time,” Valdez said.
“We’re going to test it out here, then take it to Madison Square Garden,” joked Richards, showing her enthusiasm for the effort of the local volunteers who made the concert possible.
Contact the reporter at gwfranci@asu.edu.
