Katy Perry, Bette Midler and Jessica Chastain lead online Independence Day protests: 'July 4th canceled'
Hollywood used social media to protest Fourth of July amid SCOTUS ruling
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Katy Perry, Bette Midler and Jessica Chastain were just a few of the many Hollywood stars engaging in social media protests against Independence Day in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade more than one week ago.
Perry, who gave birth to daughter Daisy with fiance Orlando Bloom more than one year ago, took to Twitter in the early hours of July 4 to acknowledge her arguably most widely used holiday anthem, in addition to women's rights.
"'Baby you're a firework' is a 10 but women in the US have fewer rights than an actual sparkler smh," she tweeted to her millions of followers, which garnered thousands of likes and comments.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}One user quickly fired back, "You supported an anti-abortion mayoral candidate in the last 30 days," and then shared a June 4 tweet from Perry, who promoted billionaire Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso "FTW."
Katy Perry, Bette Midler and Jessica Chastain were just a few of the stars protesting Independence Day on July 4 (Getty Images)
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Bette Midler let it be known that Fourth of July was effectively ‘canceled’ after the SCOTUS decision last month.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She tweeted a meme which read: "4th of July has been canceled following a shortage of Independence. Sincerely, Women."
The "Beaches" actress continued with: "WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us "women" anymore; they call us "birthing people" or "menstruators", and even "people with vaginas"! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!"
Jessica Chastain flashed her middle fingers online in a photo she captioned, "Happy ‘Independence’ Day from me and my reproductive rights."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi shared a red, white and blue-themed dessert with frosting that spelled out "Separate church & state."
She further elaborated: "Not much to celebrate this 4th, I’m afraid. Let’s just hope everyone can keep safe and peaceful today and that soon our nation veers away from this precipice."
In another tweet, Lakshmi added: "No matter what, we’ll keep fighting for the day where all humans have the same rights, at least of their own person and body, have privacy to make their own choices and to love whom they love and live in peace."
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The decision made by SCOTUS on Friday, June 24 effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion which had been in place since 1973 and gave individual states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.
Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh voted in favor of ending the landmark federal abortion protection. Chief Justice John Roberts did not approve of ending Roe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them, and now it has the votes to discard them," wrote Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in a joint, 59-page dissent.
"In overruling Roe and Casey, this Court betrays its guiding principles. With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent."