By: Sydney Xiong

Ever since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, controversies and protests have sprung from the

masses, demanding for safe abortion access again. “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead has

gathered contacts in the standup comedy community to help her supporters take action outside of protests.

“Things are awesome — never better!” Winstead, a producer, comedian, and abortion

activist, joked. “Sleeping well; no diarrhea. Things are awesome.”

Winstead had previously banked her career on satirizing politics and calling out

hypocrisy in the media. In the past decade, she has been steadfastly focusing on the issue of

abortion. Her preferred way of delivering her message is through her comedy shows.

“Don’t be ashamed of having an abortion,” comedian Joyelle Nicole Johnson joked on

“Bro v. Wade”, which is a benefit show that Winstead recently organized in Brooklyn. “Maybe

be ashamed of how you got pregnant. I got pregnant the classy way: On the floor. On an Amtrak train. In the handicapped restroom, babeeey!”

Joking about abortion, however, is nothing new. George Carlin and many others have

done this before, but Winstead’s goal is sharper. She leads a nonprofit and uses comedy and

humor to advocate for abortion as health care and a fundamental human right.

“Politicians aren’t going to save us… if people have to march one more time, and rage

and feel helpless and hopeless, they win,” Winstead said about her anti-abortion rivals. “We need to give people who are, like, ‘What can we do?’ an answer,” she added.

Winstead is not trying to reach out to anti-abortion evangelists’- and change their minds.

She has received backlash ever since she became outspoken about the issue. “My parents, when they were alive, got calls constantly saying, your daughter’s a baby murderer, it really scared them.” Her parents were Catholic. Her shows were boycotted, and she “paid a lot of money” to have her personal data erased from the internet.

But now, “There’s no place I can get fired from — come at me, I don’t care,” she said.

Winstead is not about to give up. She said: “The thing is, to just not stop. To keep

showing up…we are more motivated to fight and stay in the fight. And be relentless.”