Jason Isbell Advocates for Abortion Rights at Bentonville, Arkansas Concert
After making the statements, Isbell launched into “White Beretta,” a sorrowful cut off his newest album
On Saturday, Jason Isbell used his platform at a Bentonville concert to promote an amendment that would write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution.
About two-thirds through Jason Isbell’s headline set at the Momentary’s FreshGrass festival on Saturday, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter said, “This near-total abortion ban is a very bad and a very dangerous thing.”
“It puts a lot of people at risk. And if you agree with me, you can go sign up to get on the ballot in November to repeal the ban,” Isbell said to a very receptive audience.
He added, “We need to take care of our people and our women in Arkansas. We all benefit from the right to choose always.”
Watch Jason Isbell at the FreshGrass Festival
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Isbell was referring to the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, a constitutional amendment proposed by Arkansans for Limited Government. The amendment would allow for abortions under any circumstance within 18 weeks of fertilization as well as in the case of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies, or to protect a pregnant female's life or from a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury. Currently, laws in Arkansas prohibit abortions except when a mother's life is imminently threatened.
On June 24, 2022, Arkansas began enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
To place the proposed amendment on the November ballot, it needs to be backed by more than 90,000 signatures collected before July 5. These signatures must come from at least 50 of the state’s 75 counties. For a county to be included, at least 5% of the voters in the 2022 gubernatorial election must sign the petition.
After making the statements, Isbell launched into “White Beretta,” a sorrowful cut off his newest album. According to an interview with Variety, the song is about “terminating a pregnancy” and “the idea that how you’re raised can sometimes prevent you from supporting people that you care about in the way that you should.”
Watch “White Beretta" by Jason Isbell
“I thank God you weren’t brought up like me, with all that shame and certainty,” Isbell sings, grateful that the girl he (or perhaps the character he’s writing from the perspective of) impregnated was brave enough to abort the child neither of them was ready for.
In 2020, Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell released a new song called ‘The Problem,’ in which they portray a couple having an honest, difficult conversation about abortion. The track’s release coincided with International Safe Abortion Day, which took place earlier in the week. Proceeds from its sales went to the Yellowhammer Fund, an Alabama-based reproductive justice organization.