After responding to comments made by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz about pro-choice activists, a Texas teenager is trending on social media—and raising significant funds for abortion rights groups. As of this report, 19-year-old Olivia Julianna has raised more than $275,000 for abortion access funds.
The teen who organizes for Gen Z for Change, a digital organizing nonprofit that leverages social media “to promote civil discourse and political action” among America’s youngest voters, is crediting Gaetz for bringing attention to her platform—by insulting her appearance.
“I would like Matt Gaetz to know he picked the wrong activist” to start a fight with, Olivia Julianna said, according to The Washington Post.
“Matt Gaetz decided to body shame me publicly,” Julianna tweeted on Tuesday. “So I started fundraising for abortion funds and in a little over 24 hours we raised $115K. So let me have one final moment of telling [Gaetz] not to fuck with Texas activist[s], and definitely not to fuck with Gen-Z.”
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Gaetz’s interaction with Julianna started after the teen replied to some of his comments made at a Turning Point USA convention in Florida. At the convention, Gaetz attempted to body-shame proponents for federally legal abortion access by telling the crowd that abortion activists were too fat and “disgusting” for people to sleep with.
"Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions?" the congressman asked the audience during the event. "Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb.”
Julianna criticized the comments on Twitter and referenced the allegations Gaetz has against him in connection to the sex trafficking of a minor.
“Its come to my attention that Matt Gaetz … has said that it’s always the ‘odious 5’2 350 pound’ women that ‘nobody wants to impregnate’ who rally for abortion,” Julianna said on Twitter. “I’m actually 5’11. 6’4 in heels. I wear them so the small men like you are reminded of your place.”
In response, Gaetz then tweeted a picture of Julianna alongside an article praising his comments.
Gaetz’s reply resulted in harassment for Julianna, yet the teen stood strong and announced that she would use her platform—which was gaining increased attraction—to raise money for abortion rights.
“I’ve gotten body-shaming comments. I got a really nasty email calling me homophobic and racial slurs and the subject line of the email was ‘MATT.’ So I received hateful comments about my body, being like nobody would ever want to sleep with you, you would never need an abortion but they don’t really bother me,” Julianna told Teen Vogue in an interview when asked if she was harassed after Gaetz shared her photo. “I know that the people out there who hate me are trying their hardest to get me to be insecure about myself and it’s not working.”
Julianna told the outlet that her interaction with Gaetz could be seen as a “gift.” She even thanked him on Twitter: “Your hateful comments towards me will quite literally help pay for abortion services. Lol. Get rekt.”
According to Julianna, the funds will be split among 50 abortion funds with the goal of widening abortion access, birth control, contraceptives, and other reproductive healthcare services. Gen-Z for Change will not get any of the money.
While Gaetz has not responded to Julianna’s fundraising efforts he stood by his comments in an interview with Pensacola news station WEAR-TV on Monday. When asked by a reporter if he was suggesting that women at abortion rights rallies are “ugly and overweight”, Gaetz said: "Yes."
When he was asked what he would say to those who found his comments offensive, Gaetz responded: "Be offended."
Julianna took note of this and even called out Gaetz for his failure to respond.
When asked about his lack of response by Teen Vogue, she said:
“I think he’s scared. I honestly think he’s terrified. I would be if I tried to go after someone and their response was to raise $168,000 in less than 48 hours. Raising donations is one aspect of it, but this has [also] dramatically increased my following across social media platforms. I’ve gained over 75,000 on Twitter, 30,000 on TikTok, 8,000 on Instagram. It has catapulted me to an entirely new level of social media status. He expected me to cower and hide but that’s not how it played out.”
Daily Kos reached out to Joel Valdez, Gaetz’s communications director, for a comment from the congressman regarding to Julianna’s fundraiser on Wednesday. In response, a spokesperson said: “With Roe v. Wade overturned, America is now a pro-life nation. No amount of solicitations will change that.”
Julianna's tweets have gathered thousands of likes, and her social media influence and following are only increasing across platforms. A hashtag she began, #MattGaetzisProAbortion, is trending on Twitter.
She told outlets that, as someone from the Gen Z generation, the internet is her "territory."
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