Among dozens of shocking allegations made by Britney Spears during a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing on Wednesday (June 23), one of the most disturbing was the fact that the pop star said she wants her implanted IUD birth control device removed so she can have more kids and has been told she could not.
“I want to be able to get married and have a baby,” Spears told Judge Brenda Penny during a 20-minute-plus public statement in opposition to the conservatorship she’s been under for the past 13 years. “I was told right now in the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby. I have an IUD inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the IUD out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have any more children.”
Spears is the mother of two boys with ex-husband Kevin Federline: 15-year-old Sean Preston and 14-year-old Jayden James. In addition to Federline, Spears was briefly married to a childhood friend named Jason Alexander. She is currently dating actor Sam Asghari.
Late Wednesday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson released a statement in support of Spears and her freedom to expand her family, saying the organization stands in “solidarity” with the star.
“It is incredibly distressing to hear the trauma that Britney Spears has been through — including the appalling news that she has not been able to remove her own IUD,” the statement reads. “We stand in solidarity with Britney and all women who face reproductive coercion. Your reproductive health is your own — and no one should make decisions about it for you. Every person should have the ability to make their own decisions about their bodies and exercise bodily autonomy.”
The Women’s March also tweeted a statement of support for Spears on Wednesday, writing, “Everyone deserves to be able to make their own choices: for their bodies, for their health, for their lives. We support you, Britney, and all women escaping abusive and controlling situations.”
