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New ad campaign focuses on abortion access in UP

A billboard promotes a public service announcement campaign produced by Shout Your Abortion, in collaboration with Hydra Mutual Aid Fund and Plan C, along U.S. 41 outside Marquette. (Courtesy photo)

A new public service announcement in Michigan is spotlighting ways to access abortions outside of in-person clinical services, with a focus on the Upper Peninsula — which only has one abortion provider, an urgent care clinic in Marquette.

The campaign primarily focuses on the ability to purchase abortion pills in advance, to have on hand in case of an unwanted pregnancy. You Always Have Options, the site to accompany the campaign, links to national resources.

“Despite abortion being legal in Michigan, vast regions of the state remain without meaningful access,” a news release accompanying the campaign explained.

The PSA, part of a campaign by Shout Your Abortion, Hydra Mutual Aid Fund and Plan C, will be aired on television stations across the Upper Peninsula between October and November, as well as promoted on a billboard on U.S. 41 outside Marquette. Thousands of informational postcards will also be mailed throughout the Upper Peninsula.

Two videos, directed by Detroit-based filmmaker Na Forest Lim, were created as a part of the campaign — one featuring a teenage girl and the other spotlighting a single mother of two, both of whom find out that they are pregnant and have access to abortion pills on hand.

“An unwanted pregnancy doesn’t have to be an emergency. You can get abortion pills today, just to have on hand,” both videos read as they finish.

The Hydra Fund, a mutual aid project to provide financial assistance to those seeking abortions throughout Michigan, also created a guide to getting abortions in the Upper Peninsula. It specifically discusses both geographic concerns — multi-hour drives to abortion clinics — as well as financial concerns that might lead some to prefer ordering abortion pills by mail.

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Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more, go to https://michiganadvance.com.

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