Texas Native Lizzo Says State's Abortion and Trans Policies Are a 'Violation of Human Rights'

Lizzo called out the state for passing a law that bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy and Gov. Greg Abbott's new directive to investigate parents of trans kids as "child abuse"

Lizzo. Photo: Chris Saucedo/Getty

Lizzo is a Texas native, having grown up in Houston, but these days, she's not proud of her home state.

Speaking during a keynote address at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, the three-time Grammy winner was asked how she felt about two recent policy decisions in Texas — the state legislature's ban on abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy and Gov. Greg Abbott's recent directive to investigate the parents of transgender kids, which called it "child abuse" to let them undergo gender-affirming health care.

"I'm proud to rep Houston," Lizzo, 33, responded, NBC News reported. "But I'm not proud to rep Texan politics right now. There are very regressive laws being passed."

Talking about the directive targeting trans kids and their parents, Lizzo called it a "violation."

"They're taking away the right for young children to have a chance to live authentically as themselves," she said. "It's a violation of human rights. Trans rights are human rights."

She also said that conservative politicians are "all up in your uterus" with the ban on abortions after 6 weeks, well before many women are aware they're pregnant.

"That ban is atrocious," she said. "Mind your business. Stay out of my body. This is not political."

Lizzo added that the attention on abortions and transgender kids is unnecessary when there are far more important issues to improve on.

"We got a lot of other things that we need," she said, adding, "there are people in charge who can change things on a systemic level and they're letting us down."

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The singer and rapper was at SXSW in part to promote her new Amazon reality show Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, premiering March 24, and also talked about how she lacked role models with her body type when she was growing up.

"I used to get called fat a-- every single day on the bus," she said, adding "they don't set us up to see our value and our worth especially as Black women, especially as big Black women."

That's something she hopes to do on the show, where she'll search for "thick" dancers and models..

"I want to lift these women up… I hope they all become superstars after this," Lizzo said.