Abortion is healthcare. Healthcare is a human right.
The Womxn Project Education Fund has created four billboards, designed by artists and promoting reproductive justice. They will be on view in the Providence area from April 3 - July 17, 2023. It is our hope that these prominent and eye-catching art installations will prompt discussions, open minds, and help to destigmatize abortion.
Billboards can be art and The Womxn Project Education Fund uses the arts to build a more just and equitable Rhode Island. We believe that the arts are a powerful tool for individual expression, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding, which are essential for a healthy and democratic society. We create projects that combine the creativity and emotional impact of the arts with the strategies of activism to encourage civic engagement, advance social justice, and promote political progress.
Resources
We are fortunate that there are many robust and comprehensive online resources about abortion. We have expanded our Reproductive Justice Resources page with links to organizations across the country that provide abortion services, information on sexual and reproductive health, and, like our partner organization The Womxn Project, organizations that are fighting every day for reproductive justice.
Did you know that Rhode Islanders on Medicaid do not have insurance coverage for abortion? Did you know that many Rhode Island state workers do not have insurance coverage for abortion? Did you know that pregnant people under the age of 18 cannot receive abortion services without formal consent from their parents or a judicial bypass? Did you know that many Rhode Island politicians who describe themselves as “liberal” are also anti-choice when it comes to abortion?
63% of Rhode Islanders believe that abortion should be legal in most instances.
Source: Pew Research Center
Billboard Dates and Locations
| Dates | Locations | Message | Artist |
| 4/3 - 4/30 | I-95 780 Wellington Ave | Abortion is Healthcare | Mesa & Kannetha |
| 4/24 - 5/22 | 90 Orms facing east | Abortion is healthcare | Mesa & Kannetha |
| 5/29 - 6/26 | Rt 146 facing South | We All Love Someone | Mesa & Kannetha |
| 6/19 - 7/17 | 70 Orms E/O Black St | You Are Loved. Justice Includes Care |
Jocelyn Foye |
About the Project
When planning our billboard project, we used our social media platforms to ask our community, what is the reproductive justice message that you think is most needed in Rhode Island? We got so many great answers!
- Abortions save lives
- Abortion is a human right
- We all know someone who had an abortion
- An abortion saved my partner
- I wouldn’t be here if not for an abortion
- Men are responsible for 100% of unwanted pregnancies
We took these suggestions to two incredibly talented young artists and asked them to work together to create billboard imagery that would be impactful and engaging.
About the Artists
Kannetha Brown
Kannetha Brown is a Cambodian-American photographer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Her artwork contemplates the relationship between social justice and photography; considering how representation shapes self-identity and the perception of others.
Mesa Serbin
Mesa Serbin is a Native-American illustrator born and raised in Sarasota, Florida. She currently majors in Illustration at the esteemed Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. Serbin’s work has been displayed in exhibitions across the US.
Together, this photographer and designer created imagery that represents the beliefs of MOST Rhode Islanders - that abortion is healthcare and everyone deserves access to healthcare. We also want to remind people that everyone has a story, and sometimes those stories are private and deeply personal.
Between 1-2% of American women will have an abortion each year.
In Rhode Island, that could mean that over 10,000 women will have an abortion in any given year.
The chances are very high that each of us knows and loves someone who has had an abortion. We may never know that these people, who are our friends, partners, relatives or colleagues, have had an abortion. And, like any other medical procedure, it is their right to keep that information private if they choose to. It is important to remember that the issue of abortion directly impacts hundreds of thousands of people who we know and love.