Busy Philipps and Sophia Bush Are Joining the Harris Campaign’s Reproductive Freedom Event in North Carolina

If you like your progressive politics with a side of Millennial nostalgia, has Kamala Harris got just the Thursday plans for you. Sophia Bush and Busy Philipps will be on board Harris’s Reproductive Freedom Bus for an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the planning.

Bush and Philipps both have a special connection to North Carolina: One Tree Hill, the show that Bush starred in for nine seasons from 2003 to 2012, and Dawson’s Creek, in which Philipps appeared from 2001 to 2003 for its fifth and sixth seasons, were both filmed in Wilmington, south of Charlotte.

They also both have a history of being outspoken in favor of reproductive rights and freedom: Philipps has been open for years in sharing her story of getting an abortion when she was 15, including in her memoir This Will Only Hurt a Little, and her strong belief that the option for safe and legal access to abortion for all. She’s also an ACLU Artist Ambassador for Reproductive Freedom. When she accepted that role, she said in a statement, “The stories that we tell are one of the most powerful ways we have to change people’s hearts and minds. Since the first time I used my platform to speak out about my own experience having an abortion when I was a teenager, I have seen firsthand the impact that being vocal about important issues can have for helping people to understand how accessing abortion has put power back into people’s hands.”

Bush, in a 2022 essay co-authored with ex-husband Grant Hughes after Roe v. Wade was overturned, called the modern state of reproductive freedom “nothing short of a national emergency.” She’s a self-described “democracy nerd” who has stepped out in support of the Human Rights Campaign and more, and attended the DNC earlier this summer.

The two will be joined on UNC Charlotte’s campus Thursday by state and student leaders with the goal of rallying young voters in the name of reproductive rights. The campaign plans to make at least 50 stops in both red and blue states in the weeks leading up to Election Day, with a slate of celebrities, lawmakers, and citizens on hand to discuss the realities and importance of reproductive freedom. Donald Trump narrowly won North Carolina in 2020, by a slim enough margin that the state could be in play for 2024.

The star-powered event comes hot on the heels of Harris’s performance—in which she was especially strong while talking about the key issue of abortion—against Trump in Tuesday’s presidential debate. Could two familiar faces returning to their pretend-high-school stomping grounds help Harris convert some Southern undecided voters? We won’t have to wait for our lives to be over to find out. (Sorry.)

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