The Vans Warper Tour is an annual music festival that travels across the country (as well as a few Canadian dates) with a main demographic of 14-24 year olds attending, so why is a Virginia-based pro-life organization allowed a tent on the tour? The pop-punk/alt music festival is already already a fairly unwelcoming environment for women and now Rock for Life is teaching young women that abortions are wrong. To top it all off, they are also selling merchandise sporting "All Lives Matter" screen printed across it, which is utterly inappropriate, especially after last week's unnecessary and heartbreaking murders. Needless to say, Warped supporters and critics alike are both outraged and disappointed at Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and the tour itself.
Rock for Life's website states, "Rock for Life is promoting human rights for all people, born and preborn, by engaging the culture through music, education, and action. We believe that each and every human being is a person from his or her biological beginning." They also have a list of pro-life bands that have either been on their compilations, passed out pro-life literature at their concerts or played Rock for Life shows.
Warped Tour is the only secular festival to agree to bring Rock for Life on their tour, compared to the other 17 music festivals they'll be embarking on, which are all Christian. Rock for Life is nowhere to be found on the Warped Tour website, and their logo is a fetus playing electric guitar, an image many have found disturbing.
This whole situation made me think back to 2014, when Wondering Sound published an article on the woman problem at Warped Tour, which still holds true today in 2016. So why is a tour that shows a severe lacking of female performers comfortable bringing on an organization that tells women what to do with their bodies? At each stop, Rock for Life props up a poster that asks people to vote on "When Rights Begin." Sticky notes are handed out, and people place theirs at the marker they believe depicts when human rights should start. The overwhelming majority of sticky notes are placed before the cells even begin to form into a human being. Not only that, but false information is used on the poster to gain those results: at day one, it states that a fertilized egg is a "unique, whole, living, distinct human being," which just isn't the case. Rock for Life is so concerned for the human rights of a sack of cells, but what about the pregnant women that did not choose to be pregnant? The women who are not ready to bring another being into this world? The women whose lives are at risk through pregnancy? Abortion is a choice any and all women should have.
Many people, including bands and artists, have turned to social media to display their disgust and discomfort. Singer-songwriter Allison Weiss tweeted, "Girls - if you're at Warped this summer and some band calls you a slut from stage or @rockforlife says you don't own your body - WALK OUT." Sorority Noise quote retweeted the "When Should Rights Begin?" poster saying, "This is unreal, a women's right to chose reduced to a sticky note collage at warped tour." Others went on to say that they are highly disappointed in Warped Tour; many young girls go, and it should be a fun and safe place for everyone.
A group that is particularly outraged is #DefendGirlsNotPopPunk; they are joining in on nearly every conversation about Rock for Life, and have even gained support from Modern Baseball and TWIABP. At the Hartford, Conn. stop on Sunday, Dan Lambton of Real Friends called out the Rock for Life tent during their set, which left many fans grateful.
With so many people upset, you would think the festival would take a second look at having Rock for Life on board — they have kicked bands off of tours before, so why can't they remove a non-profit organization that is upsetting men and women alike and making people not want to attend Vans Warped Tour this year and years to follow?
