For Karlie Kloss and Phoebe Gates, one a fashion industry juggernaut turned media company owner, the latter a tech scion and burgeoning sustainable fashion platform founder, advocating for reproductive rights is nothing new. Now, the two have joined together as executive producers together with MTV Staying Alive Foundation to create Everybody’s Fight: An In Bloom Series.
Set to premiere on October 22, two weeks ahead of the upcoming presidential election, the film series will blend together three documentaries and two narrative short films to shine a light on the realities of the ways that the end of Roe, and federally protected right to abortion has shaped the lives of millions of people across the United States.
“The fight for reproductive rights has always been important to me,” Karlie Kloss told Teen Vogue. Kloss served as a Planned Parenthood escort in her twenties and founded the Gateway Coalition in 2022 after the Dobbs decision leak, to ensure clinics in her native Missouri and across the Midwest stay open and provide necessary services. Today, she sees her executive production of Everybody’s Fight, as an extension of that work.
“Phoebe and I want to share these untold stories so people feel empowered to make the change they want to see. It’s so vital to me to do whatever I can with my power, voice and privilege to support those doing this work. That’s why Phoebe and I wanted to bring experts around the table like [reproductive rights journalist] Jessica Valenti and [Executive Director of Feminist Women’s Health Center] Kwajelyn Jackson. We intentionally created a short-form series that will reach people on social media, where news is so often shared today.”
The first film, written and directed by Jessica Mendez Siqueiros starring True Detective: Night Country actor Isabella Star LeBlanc, Germain Arroyo, and Morningstar Angeline grapples with the lack of access to reproductive care faced by Indigenous communities. The second film, currently in production, is written and directed by Nijla Mu'min and explores Black maternal mortality, and the barriers to reproductive healthcare that disproportionately impact Black women.
“When Roe was overturned in 2022, my entire generation was instantly denied its reproductive rights. I was so angry for us, but in a catalyzing moment, my mother [Melinda French Gates] who I was with at the time said, ‘get mad, stay mad, and ask yourself, ‘what are you going to do about it?’” Phoebe Gates told Teen Vogue. Since then, Gates has visited clinics in states like Mississippi and Louisiana with near total abortion bans, to see how these draconian laws affect individuals and families first-hand.
“I have also met incredible leaders, people like Karlie, a mentor and co-conspirator in this fight, and Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, who has shown me how I can make a difference. This is about much more than politics; it’s about people’s lives, and these stories capture that.”
Yet, for the bleak realities of what life looks like for many Americans post-Roe, Everybody’s Fight also aims to share hope for what a future with restored reproductive freedoms can look like.
“While these films show the harsh reality of abortion in America, they also show what it might look like when young people can make their own decisions about their future. This freedom unlocks everything: educational opportunity, economic opportunity, self-belief…everything,” Gates said. “We hope that people come away with a sense that abortion is their issue too— it’s everybody’s, as the title reflects—that they learn something new, and are moved towards meaningful conversations and civic engagement.”
“I also don’t want young people to feel hopeless,” Kloss said. “There are so many incredible organizations and people on the front lines who are dedicated to helping people receive the care they need. They inspire me every day to continue advocating for reproductive justice. I hope this series helps share that feeling as well.”
And with an upcoming election on the horizon, when abortion will be put in the hands of voters in many states, both Kloss and Gates hope that voters take the opportunity to make their voices heard.
“41 million of us in Gen Z are eligible to vote this year—this is our chance to use that power!” Gates said. “Power also means voting for candidates up and down the ballot who will fight for reproductive freedom.”
Watch the trailer below:
