Justin Timberlake has been slammed by fans after revelations that he put pressure on his then girlfriend, Britney Spears, to have an abortion and then went on to publicily campaign for “the right to choose”.
In her memoir, The Woman in Me, Spears revealed that Timberlake put pressure on her to have an abortion because he “didn’t want to be a father” – a decision that Spears describes as “one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life”.
Now Timberlake is coming under intense criticism and scrutiny from his fans on Twitter/X and Instagram for his role in Spears’ abortion and his subsequent campaigning in support of abortion.
A vocal supporter of abortion
According to MTV, at a rally for then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama in 2009, Timberlake spoke in favour of abortion with his future wife, Jessica Biel.
“Nobody should be able to say what you can do with your body”, Biel said.
“I give Jess the right to choose where we go to eat all the time. The funny thing is, what the woman chooses is usually right”, Timberlake added.
After Roe vs Wade was overturned last year, Timberlake published a series of tweets opposing the change that allowed states to make their own abortion laws.
He re-tweeted a message his wife had posted speaking out against the decision “I am enraged. What happened today is not only a disgusting step backward for women – undermining our ability to make decisions for our own bodies… but it’s also dangerous. You didn’t ban abortion, you banned access to SAFE abortion. #BansOffOurBodies”.
He also shared similar tweets from abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
Fans blast Timberlake on social media
Timberlake’s self-serving support for abortion has since been blasted on social media. One fan wrote “Shaming a woman in public for over a decade when she had aborted a child for you, how disgusting”.
Another wrote “[In] front of the cameras you were the best couple, but behind the scenes you used her to get ahead and after you got ahead you left her”.
His 2002 hit, Cry Me A River, which is believed to be about his break-up with Spears, has also come under renewed criticism in light of the abortion revelation.
“That woman aborted his baby cause he wasn’t ready and then he made the world chastise her with that “cry me a river” video”, another tweeted.
“The absolute gall to release cry me a river”, added another.
Timberlake has yet to comment on the matter.
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “Justin Timberlake has been a vocal supporter of women’s “right to choose”, but he was not interested in Britney Spears’ right to choose when he pressured her into an abortion. Timberlake and men like him champion abortion because it allows them to shirk the responsibilities that come with fatherhood when it is inconvenient for them, irrespective of what their partner wants”.
“Fans are right to be critical of Justin Timberlake’s utterly self-serving vocal support for abortion. Britney Spears’ tragic experience of abortion after experiencing pressure from her boyfriend is probably all too common”.