Billboards Highlight Consequences Of Texas Abortion Ban
On Monday, August 5 Texans in the greater San Antonio area will start seeing four large billboards with a shocking message: “Everything’s bigger in Texas: including our infant mortality rate.”
The infant mortality rate in Texas has indeed increased since the near-total abortion ban Senate Bill 8 went into effect in September 2021. A report from Johns Hopkins showed that the infant mortality rate in Texas rose by 13 percent in the year following SB 8. Texas also experienced increases in neonatal deaths (when infants are less than 28 days old) as well as deaths from congenital anomalies.
The billboards, which will stay up for four weeks, are from the health education nonprofit Mayday Health, which was formed on the day that the Supreme Court announced the Dobbs decision that reversed Roe v. Wade. Their Executive Director and Co-Founder Olivia Raisner spoke with Texas Signal ahead of the billboard launch.
Raisner said that the very “stark” image is meant to grab people’s attention. But ultimately their goal is to direct viewers of the billboards to their website where they can learn about reproductive options.
That website is all about accessing information. Raisner emphasizes that they are not medical providers but are directing visitors to options. She describes them operating in a very “specific lane” especially for accessing abortion pills. “We spread information about what abortion pills are and how people can access them in states where brick and mortar clinics are banned like in Texas,” says Raisner.
Raisner also says that every action Mayday Health has taken has been rooted in “taking risks” because they are relying upon First Amendment protections. One of their first big moves took place in Jackson, Mississippi right across from the clinic that was at the heart of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision. They advertised their website on a billboard with the message “Pregnant? You still have a choice.” They received a cease and desist from the Attorney General of Mississippi but did not back down by removing the billboard. According to Raisner, they never heard back from the Mississippi AG.
“It’s our duty to spread this information in as many states as possible,” says Raisner. Mayday Health has previously been on the ground in Texas. Last year they opened a pop-up information store in Bastrop, Texas with posters and QR codes for their website which directed people to access birth control, emergency contraceptives, and abortion pills. And they have also been aerial, like when they flew a banner over a Texas Rangers game promoting abortion pills via their website.
So far, Mayday Health has not heard from the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. But even if they did, they plan to remain active in the state especially with less than three months until the November election. “We feel emboldened and confident that the work that we do is protected and it’s really vital to get life-saving information,” says Raisner.
