L7's DONITA SPARKS On Overturning Of Roe V. Wade: 'I Was Disappointed There Weren't Riots In The Streets'

Donita Sparks, lead singer of the all-woman hard-rock band L7, who helped launch Rock For Choice, a series of benefit concerts held from 1991 to 2001 that raised funds for embattled women's health clinics, spoke to Christina Rowatt of the "Occupy The Void" podcast about the June 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion and setting off a fierce fight for reproductive rights at the state level. Regarding the mental health impact on women of Roe vs. Wade being overturned, Donita said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Yeah, I think it's really intense, and I think with this last [U.S. presidential] election, I think everybody's in shock, really. I think everybody's just, like, 'What the fuck just happened?' I don't even think we've really even processed what went down yet.

"I was disappointed that when Roe v. Wade got overturned, there weren't riots in the streets," she continued. "You know what I mean? Like, where the fuck is everybody? Especially the young women who are able to have children. It's, like, 'Whoo! You better get out there and start protecting yourselves because this is a serious, serious thing.'"

Sparks previously discussed the overturning of Roe v. Wade in a May 2023 interview with The Entertainer! Magazine. She said at the time: "When we started Rock For Choice, no bands were bringing attention to that issue, because Roe v. Wade was under attack pretty much from the time it passed (in 1973),and by that time in the 1990s it was really under attack, and they finally won and they overturned it. But I feel like we shed light. We raised a bunch of money for the Feminist Majority Foundation so that they could defend clinics and get attorneys and all kinds of stuff like that.'

She added: "I feel the baton should be picked up by some younger women and, in particular, some of these huge pop stars who the majority of their audience are young women. So, they need to step up. I know a lot of them have said things from stage, which is great, or posted something on their Instagram, but there really needs to be something bigger than that."

In November, L7 staged the inaugural "Fast And Frightening Takeover" of the Belasco theater, a dynamic night of music and entertainment in Downtown Los Angeles.

Last year, L7 completed the "In Your Space" U.S. tour, which included stops at Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals.

Formed in 1985, L7 went on indefinite hiatus in 2001. A 2015 reunion tour was followed by the documentary "L7: Pretend We're Dead" in 2016.

L7's first album in 20 years, "Scatter The Rats", was released in May 2019 via Joan Jett's Blackheart Records. At the time, Sparks told the Asbury Park Press that new music was never part of the reunion strategy. "New music was not in the plan at all," she said. "We just got together to do reunion shows, and that just really kind of took off and we wanted to keep playing shows, we really enjoyed connecting with our fans again.

"Playing rock is fun and we hadn't done it in a long time and we realized, 'Wow, this is really fun again,' so we thought, 'If we want to keep doing this, we should put out new music.' And we felt we still had stuff to say and still wanted to express ourselves with new stuff."