ACLU Airs National Ad Campaign Targeting Restrictive Abortion Laws
“You know me. You know someone like me.”
Those words, read by the actress Busy Philipps, will be aired around the country this week by the American Civil Liberties Union as part of a nationwide campaign targeting a spate of restrictive abortion laws that have passed in recent months.
“I had an abortion. It was my decision,” Philipps says in the ad. “Today, it’s my right. But states are trying to take that right away by taking on Roe v. Wade, and Trump is making it possible.”
The clip will be broadcast on MSNBC and CNN through next week and air during popular news programs hosted by Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes and Don Lemon. The ACLU said stories like those from Philipps and other Americans were “essential to fight back” during a “crucial moment in the ongoing fight for our abortion rights.”
“This is the most recent front in a war to protect civil rights and civil liberties from a hostile Trump administration that has also enabled ideologues to push the same agenda at the state level,” Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, said in a statement. “In the fight to safeguard abortion, this is our Alamo.”
The ads come just weeks after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed the nation’s strictest abortion bill into law. The legislation makes it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion in the state in almost all cases, with harsher penalties for medical professionals than criminals who are convicted of some sex crimes.
Also this month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed an anti-abortion “heartbeat bill” that effectively restricts access to the service for millions of women across the state. That law bans an abortion as soon as a doctor is able to detect some movement in cardiac or heart cells which can happen around six weeks into a pregnancy before many women even know they’re pregnant. Doctors say this is based on a false premise, as the term “fetal heartbeat” isn’t really applicable until about 10 weeks into a pregnancy.
Both provisions face lengthy legal battles and have already prompted outrage and widespread protests around the nation. In Georgia, some district attorneys have pledged not to enforce the bill and Hollywood stars have begun to pull their business from the state, which is known for providing generous tax credits to the entertainment industry.
Philipps was one of several notable women to share their stories surrounding abortion access earlier this month alongside the hashtag #YouKnowMe.
1 in 4 women have had an abortion. Many people think they don't know someone who has, but #youknowme. So let's do this: if you are also the 1 in 4, let's share it and start to end the shame. Use #youknowme and share your truth.
— Busy Philipps (@BusyPhilipps) May 15, 2019
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
