This interview is part of The Daisy Chain Spotlight: Glasshouse’s feature series on the nonprofit beneficiaries of the Daisy Chain Fields music festival.
If you’re excited about the music and messaging behind the festival, we encourage you to read more about these incredible organizations and the vital work they do for women and their communities.
This interview was conducted with Caren Spruch, National Director of Arts and Entertainment Engagement for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Glasshouse: The Daisy Chain Fields festival just named their beneficiaries, and Planned Parenthood is one of them. Can you explain a little bit about what you do and who you are as an organization?
PP: Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate for sexual and reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood health centers provide primary and preventive care that is essential and life-saving: STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, birth control, wellness exams, and abortion. These services are available to everyone, no matter what, and collectively serve over 2 million people from all backgrounds across the country.
Planned Parenthood organizations offer services, education, and advocacy and, at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, I lead our work with the arts and entertainment community. Planned Parenthood has been doing this for decades, using culture and storytelling to affect change. When artists speak out, they can help us educate and mobilize young people, teach them about their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and help us reach a more diverse and larger audience.
So many people learn about sexual and reproductive health from entertainment media, so a big part of my job is working with television and film creatives on their scripts. But, I started all of this work in the music world by doing concert outreach, and that has remained a key part of our arts and entertainment engagement program for decades. We work with artists and their tour managers enable our local Planned Parenthood affiliates to set up tables at shows. We provide the affiliates with materials to help them educate concert goers about the services they provide in their communities, and engage them in the fight for access to health care.
Most recently, we were on tour with Florence and the Machine, and every single night, she came on stage and talked about the importance of access to reproductive health care. We’ve also worked with Holly Humberstone, PinkPantheress, Cyndi Lauper, Gracie Abrams, and Maggie Rogers.
Last May, as the “defund” bill was beginning to move through Congress, in about two and a half weeks, I recruited more than 250 artists to sign an ad in the New York Times declaring, I’m For Planned Parenthood. Among these artists were musicians, Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, Stevie Nicks, and, of course, Olivia Rodrigo.
Glasshouse: A lot of Planned Parenthood's base is women and people who lack financial privilege or concrete power in the world. There are many people coming to PP as a safe haven. What does it mean to then see people with fame and notoriety using their platform to show up for them?
PP: I have always tried to put myself in places where there will be prominent people who resonate with the people we serve. I think it’s become my mission in life to get prominent people to use their power, their influence, their platform to speak out about these issues. Because, again, they can reach people we can’t reach in a much more fun and interesting way.
I think it’s invaluable, and mainly, I think it’s a win-win. It’s a win for them to be involved and speak out and help. They’re helping their fans. And, of course, it’s a great win for us to have them help us get our message out there.
Glasshouse: Another thing I’m curious about is how has social media changed the work you do?
PP: It’s changed completely, and in many good ways. We can reach many more people and thank God for social media during COVID because I could keep doing my work. That’s where it really changed because we couldn’t make in-person requests, but talent was still able to show their support on Zoom events, by posting on their social platforms, and in fact reach even more people. It absolutely changed everything.
But as we see with Daisy Chain, people want to do more in person again. And, they want print magazines again. I’ve been here long enough to see the pendulum swing when it comes to attacks on our sexual and reproductive health. It swings in every area, which is kind of fascinating, and I think knowing that gets me through hard times too.
Glasshouse: The Big Beautiful Bill passed in 2025, which barred Planned Parenthood affiliates from being reimbursed for services they provided to patients on Medicaid. How has that affected both patients and the work inside of the organization?
PP: It’s been devastating, and much of the work we’re doing now relates to the harm that has been caused. People lost access to affordable life-saving care. They lost their trusted healthcare providers. Recent data shows that Medicaid visits have dropped by 25 percent over the past year, and about 30 health centers have closed.
People are angry. They see what’s happening in their communities, they don’t want to lose their health care. We know that anti-abortion lawmakers’ goal is to try to make this defund permanent, and we can’t and won’t stop fighting for everyone to get the care they need.
So much of our work now is making sure everyone understands the impact of the defund, and fighting to make sure our patients get the care they need. Planned Parenthood affiliates have been able to open some new health centers and to expand telehealth services, so that’s good, but it doesn’t make up for the loss. Everything is about fighting to protect access to care. That’s what our “I’m for Planned Parenthood” campaign is. I use that campaign to educate and draw people in to show their support.
Glasshouse: With so many people crossing state lines to access care, Planned Parenthood has had to absorb a whole new level of demand. What has it looked like inside the organization to adapt to that, and how has it affected the work?
PP: It’s having to make hard choices. In some states, governors came in and picked up some of the funding, but that isn’t sustainable. These are choices about which center has to stay open and where they might have to close a center right now.
The chaos and confusion they’ve created is done intentionally. It’s a huge fight, and it affects everything we do and everyone we serve.
Glasshouse: Going back a bit to your specific role in arts and culture, you’ve been working with artists and musicians for decades now. How did that work shift from being just one part of your outreach efforts to becoming a core part of your strategy and your identity as an organization? When did that shift happen, and what do you credit that to?
PP: I just kept doing it slowly over the years, and kudos to my organization for allowing me to. Even before I moved into the arts, I worked with constituency groups, like clergy and Republicans, and worked to tailor our messages. I was thinking about what our message is, but also how do I talk to different people and groups? How do I talk about our work in a religious context to get clergy involved? How do I talk to Republicans during welfare reform?
After that, music was the first art form I worked with. I thought about how everyone says Hollywood’s so liberal, but we didn’t have any celebrities working with us. Each thing happened slowly, and I think once people better understood what I was doing, they appreciated it more.
It was a little painful at the beginning because my work was so different, but again, Planned Parenthood let me do it. The challenge of getting these prominent people to use their voices in different art forms grabbed me because I really thought it was a way I could help make a difference.
Glasshouse: What makes an artist’s voice distinct and unique from a politician or an activist? What do they offer the public that the others can’t?
PP: Especially with TV and film, I feel like when there’s a character who you’ve come to know, you can identify and relate and understand them. So if they make a reproductive health decision, decide to have an abortion, talk about abortion, or use a condom, you really can relate to them.
I think that watching television or film can spark a conversation, and it makes it easier for people to talk about some subjects, like abortion. If someone they look up to or identify with is talking about it, it makes them wonder if they should listen and learn more. It’s just a more interesting way to talk about it than a politician usually tends to do.
Stories are such a big part of what we do, so people sharing their stories is a huge piece of this work right now because lack of access to health care affects so many people.
Glasshouse: Is there a song or moment in music that captures your work at Planned Parenthood?
PP: I was fortunate to collaborate on the Lilith Fair Festival, which was a landmark cultural moment, and one experience stayed with me. In 1997, the fair was going to be at a venue in Texas, and I was working very closely with Joan Osborne. I had arranged for the local Planned Parenthood to table, and suddenly Joan and Sarah McLachlan were told that Planned Parenthood could not table at the venue.
Joan called me to tell me what was happening, and then she, Sarah, and several other artists refused to play if Planned Parenthood couldn’t table. They held a press conference, and Billboard covered it in a full page article. The reasoning was that no organization that dealt with “contentious issues” could be a part of the show, but ultimately the venue relented. The condition was that they could not directly mention Planned Parenthood from the stage that night, but Joan and her band came on wearing the “I Am the Face of Pro-Choice America” campaign shirts I had given her. She explained exactly what was happening, urged everyone to go to the Planned Parenthood table, and, I think, was then banned from ever playing at that venue again.
So I think, wow, it just reinforced my belief in the power of art and the power of artists to speak out. Anyone who does something like that, I love them. Artists who use their influence to speak out when it matters most — there’s just nothing better.
That’s what Olivia is doing, and that’s what makes me so excited. Right now, our reproductive rights are under an unprecedented attack. Everything she’s organizing to bring together this extraordinary group of women artists is incredible. She’s doing so much for all these organizations that serve women and girls. She’s doing so much before the festival, also during, and, I am sure, after. I think that it’s such an opportunity to inspire people to act at a time that it matters most.
Glasshouse: Do you feel like Daisy Chain is a continuation of Lilith, or do you think it’s something new entirely? How do you connect them?
PP: I think it feels like Lilith and much more. It’s much more than a festival, and Lilith was too, but social media changes is part of the reason why that changes so much. We’re collaborating with Olivia and her team on a project in advance of the festival, talking about social media, etc. There’s no end to how she is showing her support. She is an extraordinary artist and an extraordinary activist, and she’s so smart. She’s so generous with her time. She’s so curious. She’s so passionate about our issues, and I’m sure about all the other issues she’s supporting.
I am so grateful. Everyone at Planned Parenthood is so grateful and so excited. I’m just thrilled to be part of an all women’s festival again. It’s amazing to me because of Lilith and what’s happened in between. This festival could not come at a more important moment, so I just thank her from the bottom of my heart.
Glasshouse: After a Glasshouse reader sits down and reads this interview, what do you hope that they walk away with?
PP: That their voice really matters, and that Olivia sees that their voice matters, or she wouldn’t be doing this. She got other artists to use their voices, and she is trying to get them to use their voice. You need to speak out, and there’s joy in resisting. We can do it together.
To follow and support the work of Planned Parenthood, please check out the links below:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Get involved with Planned Parenthood
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