‘Think you can do what you want with your body?’: vintage pro-choice ads – in pictures | abortion

In the late 90s, there was a fear that a new generation who had never known a pre-Roe world was unaware of the threat that abortion might once again become illegal in the US. A group of pro-choice activists came together with the imperative to push back against the notion that abortion rights were sacrosanct, and to motivate women to remain passionately engaged in the pro-choice struggle.

Their great fear was that, with people turning their attention to other battles, the enemies of Roe might gain the upper hand.

two signs. Left says: ‘city curfew: effective immediately, all women are required to be home between the hours of 5:00 and 7:00 pm to cook for their husbands.’ right says ‘Public notice: per order of the supreme court, any female who enters into a marriage shall be considered the property of her husband de ella.’ At the bottom, it says ‘if a woman loses her reproductive rights from her, she who knows what rights she could lose next. support the pro-choice public education project while you still can’

Starting in 1998, the group – including Naral, Planned Parenthood and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice – began running ads warning of a dystopian future where Roe v Wade would be overturned. With vivid images, zeitgeist design and provocative language, the ad campaign was difficult to miss.

“If I don’t get under your skin and if I don’t push your buttons in some way, I’m just putting some paper out there,” says Ellis Verdi, president of Devito/Verdi, the agency that created the ads. “I need you to fight me in order to reduce your apathy.”

Using the imagery associated with backstreet abortions such as wire hangers and beat-up cars, the ads attempted to embody a bygone era. One image read: “Per order of the supreme court, any female who enters into a marriage shall be considered the property of her husband de ella.” Another, with a design nod to Barbara Kruger, showed an image of a young woman with tattoos and piercings, warning, “Think you can do whatever you want with your body? Think again.”

Now, with the court seemingly poised to overturn Roe v Wade, the ads seem chilling and prophetic.

left: image of an old car with a sign on it that says ‘abortion clinic’. Right: image of a dirty bathroom with a sign over the bathtub that says ‘operating room’. at the bottom of each ad, it says: ‘take away a woman’s right to choose and she’s left to take matters into her own hands. please support keeping abortion safe and legal.’

“My high school had the most pregnancies of any school in the country,” says Verdi. “In my teens I was arguing for daycare for these young women so that they could go to school. I actually won the argument and had the high school put in a daycare center. The biggest opposition was from the parents.”

Verdi says the campaign also made a splash. The funders were extremely enthusiastic and financed the campaign’s three-year run in cities across the US. And on-the-spot interviews of subway riders pre- and post-exposure to the ads showed heightened interest and involvement in pro-choice issues.

left image shows woman with cursive writing overlaid: ‘my boyfriend isn’t forcing me to become a mother – my parents are’. Right image shows woman’s face with cursive writing overlaid: ‘The trouble with the clinic telling my parents that i’m pregnant is that they don’t know my parents’

“I think everyone was feeling that, post–Roe v Wade, there was a tremendous increase in apathy,” says Verdi. “If you went to college campuses, the movement didn’t have the same support system. In an environment like that, you can pretty much assume it would be easier to pass legislation or overturn Roe.”