Shout Your Abortion (SYA), an organization with the goal of “normalizing abortion and elevating safe paths to access,” has launched a “multi-state, pro-abortion” billboard campaign, ahead of the anniversary of Tennessee’s abortion ban.
The campaign features six billboards along I-55. from Memphis to Carbondale, Illinois, which according to SYA, is a popular route for abortion seekers.
Data provided by UCLA’s School of Law’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy said that “between 9,277 and 18,554 more people will travel to Illinois each year for abortion care.
“Anti-abortion groups have lined I-55 with negative, guilt-based billboards shaming abortion seekers headed to Illinois, and this new campaign aims to offer support and affirmation to those traveling for care,” said SYA in a statement.
In August 2022, providing abortions became a felony, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act, which was initially passed in 2019, does not allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, or any fetal abnormality that could prove fatal to the baby. Clinics like Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi were forced to stop abortion services completely.
As abortion providers in the state stopped services, many women began to consider traveling out of state for abortions. Choices-Center for Reproductive Health, opened a clinic in Carbondale, Illinois. According to the clinic, they have provided close to 3,800 abortions since the Dobbs decision.
Amelia Bonow, co-founder and executive director of SYA, said that because abortion is banned in so much of the south, I-55 is a highway that “tens of thousands of people” will take into southern Illinois to a place like Choices.
Messages on the billboards feature pro-abortion messaging like “ABORTION IS OKAY, YOU ARE LOVED,” and “GOD’S PLAN INCLUDES ABORTION,” which are an intentional contrast to “hateful, shaming, and intentional” anti-abortion billboards.
“We were motivated by the desire to tell people that it’s okay,” said Bonow. “You may just be used to hearing this judgment and shame and hatefulness, but that is actually not the majority. The vast majority of Americans support abortion rights.”
Vanderbilt University’s 2023 Statewide Poll said 82 percent of registered voters think “abortion should be legal in Tennessee if it would prevent the death or serious health risk of the mother.”
“Support is highest among Democrats (95 percent), followed by Independents (86 percent), MAGA Republicans (74 percent) and non-MAGA Republicans (72 percent),” the poll said.
Bonow said because the anti-choice movement has been so “loud and scary,” they have terrified people who have abortions into hiding. She said that the billboard campaign is a powerful way to claim space.
