Center for Reproductive Rights Launches Video Campaign with Vanessa Carlton
New “A Thousand Miles” campaign highlights the long distances women are forced to travel for abortion care
10.22.24 (PRESS RELEASE) – Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights unveiled a national video campaign featuring artist Vanessa Carlton and her Grammy-nominatedhit song “A Thousand Miles.” The campaign shines a light on the increasingly far distances women in the U.S. are being forced to travel for abortion care. In 2023 alone, over 171,000 people were forced to travel outside their state for abortion care. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, more than 20 states have banned or severely restricted abortion.
“This issue is deeply personal for me,” said Vanessa Carlton. “I suffered an ectopic pregnancy back in 2013 and had to be rushed into emergency surgery to save my life. If that had happened to me today in the wrong state, I may not have survived. Women in the same situation are now being turned away from hospitals because of abortion bans. People are being forced to travel hundreds or thousands of miles for time-sensitive health care that should be available everywhere. It’s heartbreaking and wrong.”
The centerpiece of the campaign—created by advertising agency GSD&M—is a video that depicts a woman setting out on what looks like your average road trip. She packs her bags, gets in the car and turns on the radio just as the first few chords of Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” begin. As the video progresses, this woman’s journey unknowingly intersects with other women headed to the same place. By the end, they all converge in the same medical waiting room to receive abortion care, and viewers learn that, “Last year, abortion bans forced 170,000 Americans to go out of state for reproductive care. No one should have to travel for essential healthcare.” Vanessa Carlton appears in the final seconds of the film, adding that: “I had an ectopic pregnancy, and without abortion care, I could have died. Abortion is healthcare. Please tell Congress to protect reproductive freedom nationwide.”
“I never thought I would have to flee my own state for health care that my doctor said I needed,” said Kate Cox, who sued the state of Texas last year when seeking abortion care. “I’m now pregnant again because I was able to access abortion care in New Mexico, which preserved my fertility. But so many people can’t afford to leave the state like I did. I think about those people often and what might have happened to me if I couldn’t get out of Texas.”
The campaign website includes an interactive map showing the abortion landscape in each state and how far patients are being forced to travel for care. On the website, visitors can contact their representatives and urge them to pass federal legislation protecting abortion rights nationwide.
“It is dehumanizing to force a person to travel hundreds or thousands of miles for health care,” said Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Yet that is what women have been doing every day in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Everyone should be able to access abortion in their home state, regardless of why they need it. We currently have over 20 lawsuits filed across the country seeking to expand abortion access, with the ultimate goal of re-establishing a federal right to abortion.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights recently took legal action on behalf of two Texas women who were denied care for ectopic pregnancies because of Texas’ strict abortion ban. Both women subsequently lost a fallopian tube and nearly died. This case is just one of many that the Center represents in which patients have been denied abortion care despite facing risks to their health, lives and future fertility. The Center currently represents over 30 women who were denied abortion care despite severe pregnancy complications, many who had to travel to other states.
####
MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected]
Related Posts
State Court Abortion Litigation Tracker Launched by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Brennan Center for Justice
Tool aggregates litigation against abortion bans in state courts since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
BREAKING: South Carolina Supreme Court Allows Six-Week Abortion Ban to Go Into Effect
08.23.23 (PRESS RELEASE) — Today, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the state’s newly enacted ban on abortion after about...
Abortion Providers File for Rehearing In S.C. Abortion Ban Case
08.24.23 (PRESS RELEASE) — Today, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the Greenville Women’s Clinic, and two physician plaintiffs filed a request...
