The punk protest performers trade Moscow for Birmingham in a sold-out show today.
They made headlines for guerrilla performances ridiculing President Putin’s links to the Russian Orthodox church, and now the balaclava-clad members of protest punk collective Pussy Riot are turning their efforts towards Alabama. Today, at a sold-out show in Birmingham, the performers will take the stage to protest the state’s recently passed abortion legislation—the most restrictive in the country—and support Planned Parenthood and the Yellowhammer Fund.
Due to come into effect in November, the anti-abortion laws would make it a felony, punishable with up to 99 years in prison, for a physician to perform any part of the procedure, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Pussy Riot’s performance also comes just days after the Jefferson County district attorney announced they would be dropping charges against Marshae Jones, who was charged with manslaughter after she was shot in the abdomen while five months pregnant, causing her unborn baby to die.
“I like to go to places that are not super obvious to play in,” Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova explained to the Associated Press. “I want to support those progressive people who decided to stay in a place like Alabama and make that state more progressive and more open-minded. If I can help just a little bit, I’d be really happy to.”
Earlier this year, Tolokonnikova told The Guardian that despite having recurring nightmares about ending up in prison again, she’s still dedicated to advocating for human rights around the world, through song and protest.
This isn’t the first time Pussy Riot has turned its defiant gaze towards the US. In 2016, the group released the song “Make America Great Again,” a protest anthem against the election of Donald Trump that included the line: “Let other people in/ Listen to your women/ Stop killing black children/ Make America great again.”
Abortion in Russia, legal within 12 weeks of pregnancy, has become a debate between church and the state, with the government uncharacteristically siding with more liberal values. The Russian Orthodox Church has long petitioned officials to give fetuses the same rights as people—using Russia’s declining population to support their call for an abortion ban—but Putin has expressed a desire to keep the country’s values in line with “the civilized world.”
Alabama’s de facto ban, signed into law by the state’s second female governor, Kay Ivey, back in May, has faced waves of criticism and protests. Now that they’re coming from a group infamous for holding some of the world’s most illiberal governments to account, Alabama’s new legislation should be seen as a step back in global progress and not just a local anomaly. Last week, a judge overturned Ohio’s “heartbeat” law that could see abortion banned as early as six weeks, a stage where many women don’t even know they’re pregnant, and Missouri is on the verge of losing its last Planned Parenthood location, which would make it the only state in the country without an abortion clinic since 1974. Pussy Riot’s involvement in the Alabama protests underscores the broader impact of state-level restrictions on women’s rights—they set a dangerous tone not only within the United States, but for the rest of the world.
