{"id":4470,"date":"2022-07-12T13:54:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=4470"},"modified":"2022-07-12T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T18:54:02","slug":"roe-v-rap-hip-hop-artists-have-long-wrestled-with-reproductive-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=4470","title":{"rendered":"Roe v. Rap: Hip-Hop Artists Have Long Wrestled With Reproductive Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hip-hop culture is often recognized as being born on Aug. 11, 1973<\/a>. That was about seven months after Roe v. Wade<\/a>, the landmark decision that protected the right to choose to have an abortion.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, reproductive rights have long been part of the discourse in rap music, which has always sought to hold a mirror to society to reflect its realities, values, ambitions, fantasies and taboos. With the U.S. Supreme Court having ruled that there is no constitutional right to an abortion<\/a>, rap lyrics will undoubtedly reflect this new reality.<\/p>\n

What follows is a sampling of rap songs from the past several decades that have dealt with the subject of abortion and reproductive rights in the era of Roe v. Wade. The list is by no means exhaustive.<\/p>\n

Collectively, the songs represent a diversity of viewpoints and are written from a variety of perspectives \u2013 from guilt-ridden, would-be mothers and apprehensive fathers to the imagined vantage point of the unborn themselves.<\/p>\n

\u2018La Femme F\u00e9tal,\u2019 by Digable Planets (1993)<\/h2>\n

This song actually presages a time when Roe v. Wade would no longer be the law of the land and even mentions Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote in favor of the decision that overturned the case. It features a narrator who recounts a story of a friend who attempts to get an abortion but is harassed at the clinic.<\/p>\n

If Roe v. Wade was overturned, would not the desire remain intact \/ Leaving young girls to risk their healths \/ And doctors to botch, and watch as they kill themselves \/ I don\u2019t want to sound macabre \/ But hey, isn\u2019t it my job \/ To lay it on the masses and get them off their asses \/ To fight against these fascists<\/em><\/p>\n