For years, anti-abortion groups have dominated the American landscape with billboards. Now abortion rights supporters are battling back with their own. About time.
For years, right-wing evangelicals have posted billboards along highways and in towns across the U.S. trumpeting their religious views and their anti-abortion beliefs. Now, post-Dobbs, abortion rights supporters are fighting back with their own roadside billboards and mobile digital LED advertising trucks.
Shout Your Abortion recently posted six abortion rights billboards along interstate 55 through five states that have banned abortion—from Memphis, Tenn., to Carbondale, Ill. The billboards include messages like, “God’s Plan Includes Abortion” and “Abortion is Okay: You Know What’s Best for You.”
Earlier this month at the Texas-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa, Mayday Health drove an illuminated truck around town with the messages, “Pregnant? You Still Have a Choice” and “Abortion Pills Delivered to Your Door.” They included a huge QR code linking to information about where to find abortion pills.
On Instagram, Mayday Health commented, “It’s game day at the University of Alabama. So we’re spreading the word about abortion pills—even if @agstevemarshall doesn’t want you to know.”
Alabama’s attorney general Steve Marshall recently threatened criminal prosecution of groups helping women obtain abortions.
Mayday has advertised abortion pills on roadside billboards and illuminated trucks in several states, including Mississippi, Idaho, Montana and Texas.
In August, Planned Parenthood posted bright pink billboards in Idaho: “Extreme politicians don’t want you to know this. Planned Parenthood does. Abortion is Legal in Oregon and Washington.”
Advocates are also using billboards to pressure state legislators to codify abortion rights. UnRestrict Minnesota took over billboards surrounding the State Capitol building last year “to make sure legislators hear loud and clear from the majority of Minnesotans who want our state laws to support abortion rights and access.” The billboards demanded, “Repeal Minnesota’s Abortion Restrictions”—which legislators did, in January 2023.
At the federal level, the Democratic Party is buying billboards to advertise its pro-choice position in battleground states across the country. The billboards have a quote from President Joe Biden: “Let me be clear: A woman’s right to choose is non-negotiable. … Now it’s time for Congress to pass legislation codifying the protections of Roe.”
These billboards mark a radical shift for Democrats, who for years have been quiet about abortion. Democrats also ran billboards calling out Republicans for trying to ban abortion nationwide.
Abortion billboards are also playing a role in state elections. Last fall, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s reelection campaign launched billboards to advertise California’s abortion resource website in seven anti-abortion states, including Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, South Dakota and Oklahoma. The billboards read, “Texas doesn’t own your body, you do” and “Need an abortion? California is ready to help.”
“Here is my message to any woman seeking abortion care in these anti-freedom states: Come to California. We will defend your constitutional right to make decisions about your own health,” said Newsom at the time. “These un-American abortion bans—many of them without exceptions for rape and incest—are literally killing women.” The billboards included the bible verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”
(Editor’s note: At-home abortions via medication abortion are legal, safe and available in all 50 states. The organization Plan C has a comprehensive guide to finding abortion pills on their website, which is continually updated and has all the latest information on where to find abortion pills from anywhere in the U.S.)
Before last November’s election, Swedish American artist Michele Pred worked with a group of artists to raise funds and work with companies to put up billboards featuring 10 artists and 18 billboards, located in 12 states and 14 cities, including Wisconsin, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky.
Using billboards for abortion advocacy has recently accelerated, but is not new. In 2020, a grassroots advocacy group ProgressNow New Mexico posted two billboards between Albuquerque and Santa Fe highlighting the connection between rape and reproductive coercion. The billboards read, “Rape is about power and control. So are abortion bans. Keep abortion safe and legal.”
“For any of us who are survivors of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, we’ve been told over and over that these forms of abuse take place because the abuser wants to assert power and control over our bodies,” said Marianna Anaya, communications director for ProgressNow. “So in the same vein we know that politicians and anti-abortion extremists are trying to assert control over our bodies by banning abortion.”
For years, anti-abortion groups have dominated the American landscape with billboards. Now abortion rights supporters are battling back with their own. About time.
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