Trio of abortion activists STRIP during Joel Osteen church service to protest SCOTUS draft
A group of abortion activists disrupted celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's Sunday service at a Texas church by stripping down to their underwear in a bid to protest the Supreme Court's potential overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Osteen, 59, had just finished leading a prayer and congregants began to take their seats at Lakewood Church when one woman stood up, pulled off her dress, and yelled,“It’s my body, my f–king choice." Videos shared on Twitter showed how a second woman got up, took off her dress, and shouted, “Overturn Roe, hell no” followed by a third who also stripped and echoed the chants. The trio was protesting the recently leaked SCOTUS draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which would allow individual states to set their own policies and laws surrounding abortion.
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According to the New York Post, the activists wore white sports bras with green handprints on them and waved green bandannas. The color is symbolic of the pro-choice movement. Security subsequently escorted the women out of the building, and the activists -- belonging to Texas Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights -- said they decided to protest inside the church because anti-abortion activists did not think twice before protesting at abortion clinics and doctors' offices. "We're here today to break the silence and stand up because Christians are not afraid to bother us at health care clinics, at doctors’ offices [where we’re] trying to get essential health care, so why the f–k wouldn’t we bother you in your own home where the laws are coming from,” one of the women said while continuing the protest outside Lakewood Church.
MORE OF THIS 👏👏👏@tx4abortion disrupted @joelosteen earlier. EVERYONE who is applauding these young women needs to join this movement. YES YOU. Donate, put up posters & saturate w stickers, share posts, organize protests, or do something bold like this! Have an idea? DM Us! pic.twitter.com/yrv1lVQUWr
— Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (@riseup4abortion) June 6, 2022
"I know it seems very outrageous to do it in a church in a private space," activist Julianne D'Eredita told KPRC 2 of the protest. "However, the people that are enforcing these laws have no qualms coming up to women in private spaces such as doctors' offices and medical clinics to harass them and call them murderers." D'Eredita added, "Joel Osteen has an international audience and silence is violence when it comes to things like these. We have a very unprecedented and very short amount of time to garner the attention that we need to get millions of people on the streets, millions of people doing actions like we were today."
The Supreme Court announced a series of decisions on Monday morning, June 6, but did not issue a ruling on Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, Lakewood Church is yet to comment on the protest. According to the Post, the live stream of the disrupted 11 am service is no longer available online.
It's worth noting that the Houston church attracts thousands of worshippers every weekend and collects millions of dollars in donations. Tickets to Osteen's services are reportedly around $30. In December, MEAWW reported how the church became part of a bizarre discovery after a plumber found envelopes full of cash and checks behind a loose toilet. According to church officials, the plumber spoke about the incident on a radio station on November 10.
“There was a loose toilet in the wall, and we removed the tile," the plumber told The Sun while detailing the incident. "We went to go remove the toilet, and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like ‘Oh wow!’” He said a total of 3,000 envelopes stuffed with cash were recovered from the spot that is owned by Osteen. “I went ahead and contacted the maintenance supervisor that was there, and I turned it all in," the plumber added.