It’s fascinating how a single word can carry so much weight that the majority of society will avoid it at all costs. It wasn’t always that way, of course. Words are just words. It’s us, the humans, that gave them meaning. And when it comes to the really loaded ones? Well, that’s probably a by-product of marketing, politics, or religion.
And then there’s the cultural zeitgeists—words that get wrapped into all three of those categories. Words like abortion.
By the time I joined this campaign, the wonderful folks of ACLU Indiana had already teamed up with my colleagues at Well Done Marketing to get Hoosiers talking about abortion in a respectful, informed way. This of course included a lot of education to combat myths and misinformation peddled primarily by political pundits and those looking to sway power dynamics—but most important was encouraging people to have conversations, even when they disagree.
As the overturn of Roe v. Wade rippled into newly proposed bills at the state level, we considered additional ways to get people talking about the subject matter as legislative sessions began. One of the paths chosen was to showcase what honest conversations about abortion looked like, and to make them easily accessible on a landing page with further education and real-life stories.
We paired a controversial OB/GYN with a woman who never thought she’d need an abortion but required one for life-saving care, a religious leader with a person who had lost a family member due to lack of accessible care, and an independent business owner with a writer who highlights the spectrum of Blackness and the Black experience for these long-form conversations. We then made a :30 supercut to air during the legislative session which pointed people to the landing page.
- On August 5, 2022, Indiana lawmakers voted in favor of a near-total abortion ban.
- On September 15, 2022, a Special Judge on the Monroe County Circuit Court granted a preliminary injunction allowing the state’s previous law to remain in effect.
- On January 19, 2023 the Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether the state’s ban violates the state constitution.
- As of this writing (May 31, 2023), there has not yet been a formal opinion of the court issued.
Regardless, the ACLU of Indiana continues their work to preserve and promote civil liberties including the freedom of speech, the right to privacy, reproductive freedom, and equal treatment under the law for all Hoosiers.