A fundraiser started by a teenage abortion activist who was mocked by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has now raised more than $2 million for abortion care.
Olivia Julianna, a 19-year-od Texan who works with the political group Gen Z for Change, was thrust into the national spotlight when Gaetz shared a clip of her discussing Gaetz’s speech at a recent Tampa conference.
In that speech, Gaetz belittled the appearance of abortion activists.
“They’re like 5’2, 350 pounds, and they’re like ‘Give me my abortions or I’ll get up and march and protest’,” Gaetz said at the Turning Point USA conference that served as a gathering point for Neo-Nazis.
Gaetz saw Julianna’s criticism of him on TikTok and shared it to his Twitter followers, again taking the opportunity to mock abortion activists’ appearance. Olivia turned that move on its head and used it to fundraise for abortion access.
As of this writing, Olivia’s fund has raised more than $2.1 million.
“Representative Gaetz’s comments were reprehensible, disgusting, and outright despicable, but I am glad he directed his bigotry in my direction,” she said in a statement last week. “We have now turned hatred into health care, and people across the country will be able to get access to abortion services because of it.”