Phoebe Gates Shares Moment That Led Her to Start Donating Millions to Abortion Rights Groups

“There’s a tangible chance to make a change here," the recent Stanford University graduate told The Wall Street Journal

In addition to being an outspoken champion of women's health and reproductive freedom, Phoebe Gates is donating millions to abortion rights groups.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the publication highlighted a “new wave” of influential women taking a stand against after the Supreme Court’s overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022.

Phoebe, the 21-year-old daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and philanthropist Melinda French Gates, told the outlet she plans to give millions to abortion rights groups this year — and the recent college graduate said that it was her mother who influenced her to take action in a major way.

Upset about Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Phoebe recalls her mother asking her, "What are you going to do about it?"

Related: Phoebe Gates Embraces Mom Melinda at Gates Foundation Event — and Gets Shout-Out from Dad Bill

Phoebe previously opened up about this moment in an essay published for Vogue in 2022.

“When you’re Melinda’s daughter, it’s easy to be passionate about reproductive health. My mom is my hero. She’s a brilliant reformer who travels around the world advocating for gender equality,” Phoebe, then 19, wrote.

When the decision was announced, Phoebe argued that if more people could just be reminded of what a “pre-Roe America looked like,” minds would change — but French Gates, 59, had a different point of view.

“More people agree with Roe than they did 50 years ago,” she recalled her mom telling her. “Women won the argument, but we still lost the policy battle.”

“She was right—as moms are, annoyingly, most of the time,” Phoebe continued. “The problem was never that we didn’t share enough compelling stories or appalling statistics….It was about power. The wrong six people were in positions of authority. And they are why women lost the right to choose.”

Phoebe went on to share that she hoped the “final legacy” of the decision was that it “created a whole generation of pissed-off young people who will devote our lives to winning back a woman’s right to choose. This time, for good.”

Over the years, Phoebe has frequently used her social media platform to support reproductive freedom — including at the polls — and most recently, in a June 24 Instagram Reel, she sat down with her mother the mother-daughter duo sat down to discuss a women's right to make decisions about their own body.

“Tell me what it’s been like to have the rollback of reproductive rights happen during your lifetime,” the mother of three asked her youngest at the start of the clip.

“I think unsurprising, but disappointing,” Phoebe responded.

Related: Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' 3 Children: All About Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe

“Two years ago today, Roe v. Wade was overturned and my daughters’ generation lost a fundamental right that I grew up with,” French Gates captioned the joint social media post. “I sat down with @phoebegates to talk about how this has affected her generation, the importance of reproductive freedom, and why this year’s election is so critical.”

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In addition to funding groups that help women in need, like Just the Pill, Phoebe told WSJ that she's working with activists to figure out how to make informed giving decisions.

“There’s a tangible chance to make a change here," said the young activist, who is also the co-founder of Phia, an upcoming fashion-tech platform.

Related: Phoebe Gates Addresses 'Misconceptions and Conspiracy Theories' About Her Family and Boyfriend

Of course, supporting women's rights runs in the family.

At the end of May, French Gates pledged to give $1 billion over the next two years. In an op-ed for The New York Times, French Gates said she will give the money to “people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States."

"With the rollback of women’s rights and headwinds to social progress in the U.S. and around the world, Melinda believes that now is the time to provide urgent capital to people and organizations fighting to protect and further equality and remove the barriers that hold women back," read a press release from French Gates' Pivotal Ventures.

Among the groups that French Gates is supporting with this pledge are the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

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