By: Tianhao Chen

For many, abortion is a very serious issue to be discussed. However, for Lizz Winstead, incorporating humor and jokes is key when she advocates for abortion rights.

Winstead has made a name of herself through highlighting irony in politics and media. Over the years, she has become an activist due to her “boundless energy, high-strung, talk very quickly, gesticulate wildly” personality. In the past ten years, her focus shifts from satire to the topic of abortion, where she advocates her stance through skits andt aboo talks.

Currently, she runs a nonprofit whose objective is to make abortion a right. She also has her own group, Abortion Access Front, which hosts many performances featuring skits, music, and talks to abortion providers. Winstead hopes that she can change peoples’s perception on abortion and persuade them to get involved in the cause.

Abortion Access Front hopes that everyone can help out with the cause, no matter how large the contribution is. “If you have 10 minutes a month to give, I can give you something to do that’s meaningful, and I don’t want you to feel bad that that’s all you can give. Life is too messed up right now,” Winstead said.

The group also tries to help clinics all over the country block anti-abortion protesters to make them feel more welcome. “For a lot of these folks, in the only clinic in their state, they feel really isolated,” said Amy Elizabeth Alterman. Winstead and her group are a source of comfort for many, as Alterman says. “When a band of feminists explodes out of a van, wearing pro-abortion swag and saying, ‘Thank you for what you do. What can we do and how can we celebrate you?’ it’s often very emotional.”

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it has been heart-breaking for Abortion Access Front. Joyelle Nicole Johnson, who’s been with the group since the beginning, says, “I’ve always felt unsafe in this country, but now it’s almost a slapstick level of unsafe. It’s chaos.”

However, this also strengthens activists’ goals and efforts, to which Johnson said, “I talk about

it every chance — you’re going to hear abortion, abortion, abortion out of Joyelle’s mouth.”

For Winstead, the key to success is to fight together and never give up, because if she does, then women will lose the battle, and it might lead to more abortion rights being lost.

Link to Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/arts/lizz-winstead-abortion-comedy.html