INDIANAPOLIS — Two billboards in Indianapolis are making a statement.
"The word vagina will get attention," said Whitney Chinogwenya, with MSI Reproductive Choices.
One of the billboards sits on W. 16th Street and the other Southeastern Avenue.
"It’s what we’re trying to protect, we’re focusing on women and making sure women’s reproductive rights are preserved," said Chinogwenya.
MSI Reproductive Choices is a global reproductive health organization. They put billboards with the word "Vagina" up in Indianapolis, Nashville and Atlanta — All three cities with some of the strictest abortion laws.
The billboards point people to their new platform, Vagina Privacy Network.
"A step by step guide for women or people that are looking for information online about how they can stay safe and surf the internet privately," said Chinogwenya.
Roe V. Wade was overturned two-years-ago this week and Indiana's near-total abortion ban went into affect in August 2023.
In a statement from Indiana Right to Lifethey say:
Because of Indiana's leadership in the Midwest as a community that supports pregnant moms and protects unborn babies, we are seeing the abortion rate greatly reduced. The new law is doing what it was intended to do: Saving the lives of unborn babies by making abortion very rare, and only for those exceptions written into law.
The new law also safeguards Indiana from being an abortion-destination state -- and low abortion numbers confirm that fact. Those states that welcome abortion on demand attract more to their communities than they may bargain for, including sex trafficking and a culture of coercing women into abortions -- which is a silent issue that needs to be talked about. The many pregnancy resource centers throughout Indiana are often the unsung sources of support and hope for women who find themselves pressured toward abortion.
Indiana's law actually helps to safeguard women from these exposures and the life-long trauma women suffer after abortion, and it strives to protect innocent unborn babies whose lives have immeasurable value.
WRTV also asked them about the billboards up in town. They issued the following statement:
This billboard campaign is dehumanizing, reducing the value of women to a body part. Women deserve so much more respect, and this campaign fails them. On one hand, its vulgarity violates basic community standards of decency. But more importantly we feel it could potentially enable abusers and traffickers of young girls and women to find online resources promoted in the campaign to coerce them into chemical and other forms of abortion.
Research shows that many women, about 24%, who have had abortions did not want to choose abortion. What they want is compassion, support and resources to help them love and care for their babies.
If this campaign really cared about women, it would be offering resources -- like the 100-plus pregnancy resource centers throughout Indiana -- where they can get support to care for their babies. If this campaign really cared about women, it would be offering resources where women can learn about the risks of abortion, or get help with the life-long trauma women experience after abortion.
This campaign is about pushing abortion services. The abortion industry makes money on the backs of women facing fear and uncertainty. Indiana is better than this. We can strive to be the state that provides compassionate care for women and protects unborn babies.
A recent survey by Our Choice Coalition polled close to 1,300 voters in Marion County, 64% said they believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
"We're not surprised by what Hoosiers what, what voters want," said Haley Bougher, the Indiana State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.
WATCH PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Impact of Indiana's near-total abortion ban
Bougher says since the the ban in Indiana went into place, they've seen more attacks on women's healthcare, especially when it comes to birth control. Bougher says they also have women come in who don't realize what the abortion laws in Indiana entail.
"We've seen across the nation the abortion bans make pregnancy less safe and we're seeing that happening here in Indiana," said Bougher.
There is a near-total abortion ban in Indian, but state law does allow the procedure in cases of rape or incest.
Abortion is allowed in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy if needed to save the mother's life or if the fetus has a deadly anomaly.
