Drawn to help: Akron tattoo shop holds flash sale to benefit abortion funds, contraception
Slinkii leaned forward in their stool, expertly maneuvering the tattoo gun across client Abby Starr’s ankle.
The tattoo artist used their gloved hand to wipe away excess ink, revealing a thin-lined juice box displaying the words “Bad Bitch Juice.”
Slinkii’s signature is a juice box, but this one is particularly special.
The tattoo was part of a flash sale by Black Amethyst Tattoo Company, a women-owned shop in Akron employing female and nonbinary artists like Slinkii, who goes by this name professionally.
All proceeds went to state abortion funds and contraception options for their customers.
“I feel like we’re doing all we know how to do, which is tattoo," said shop owner Erica Rose. "We’re just trying to turn that into something that could be helpful and beneficial.”
'It saved my life'
It’s a cause that’s personal for Slinkii, who had an abortion at age 15.
“It saved my life,” Slinkii said. “I was too young to have a child. I myself was a child. I just want everyone to have the option I did.”
The flash sale, which ran July 3 and 4, was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and prompted Ohio’s swift enactment of the so-called “heartbeat bill,” banning abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, typically around six weeks.
“It affects all of us," Rose said. "Every person who works here has a uterus.”
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Flash sales are sometimes offered by shops or artists as a means to tattoo as many people during a short period of time as possible using pre-drawn designs. Black Amethyst’s sale was by appointment only, and all appointments were promptly filled within the day of posting.
Most artwork relates to female empowerment or reproductive autonomy, such as floral outlines of a uterus or sayings like “my body, my choice," but other gender-neutral designs were offered as well.
The two-day sale raised $9,410. All artists donated their time and supplies and did not accept tips unless it went toward the fundraiser.
"We’re trying to do everything we can to have options for everyone that needs it," said artist Sadie Winter. "The least we can do is donate a couple needs and ink and our time."
'Abortion is health care'
The money supports operations for Women Have Options Ohio, a statewide abortion fund that assists with out-of-state travel and paying for the procedure, and Preterm Cleveland, a nonprofit sexual health clinic offering abortion services and care.
"I came out because abortion is health care," said 35-year-old Tressa Watts of Cuyahoga Falls while Rose tattooed a floral outline of a woman's body on her arm. "Now that I have a daughter, it feels even more important. It seems crazy she doesn't have the same rights I had."
Most of the money will be donated, but some will be reserved to purchase contraception stocked in the shop’s bathroom, including condoms, spermicide gel and morning-after pills, which are used the day following unprotected sex or failed birth control method.
"Not everyone can afford a $40 pill," Rose said. "It's one of those things like, if you need it, take it. We won't know who took it. You don't even need to have an appointment, you can just come in."
To continue fundraising efforts beyond the weekend, each shop artist designed a t-shirt to sell online.
"Birth control and abortion is just basic fundamental health care that every person with a uterus should have access to," Winter said. "It’s pretty absurd based on your geographical location in the country, your options are limited or you have none at all, so we want to make sure we're doing whatever we can to help.”
Reporter Abbey Marshall is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Learn more at reportforamerica.org. Contact her at at amarshall1@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron tattoo shop holds flash sale, donates proceeds to abortion funds
