August, 01 2016, 03:30pm EDT
New Billboard in Austin Calls on the Texas Department of Health Services to Eliminate Pamphlets Providing Misleading Abortion Information
Thousands Join UltraViolet in Demanding Texas Not Turn Lies Into Laws
AUSTIN, Texas
This week, a new billboard in Austin will call on the Texas Department of Public Health to eliminate deceptive pamphlets that mislead women about critical reproductive healthcare information.
The campaign, launched by UltraViolet, a national women's advocacy organization, comes after the Texas Department of State Health Services published a 24-page pamphlet that contains medically inaccurate information, including claims that abortion is linked to breast cancer, infertility, and suicide.
UltraViolet also notes that the materials mislead patients by describing an abortion, a procedure the Supreme Court recently noted is safer than childbirth or a colonoscopy, as replete with gruesome complications.
The billboard, which reads: "Texas Department of Public Health: Don't Turn Lies into Laws. Women Considering Reproductive Healthcare Deserve Medically Accurate, Unbiased Information" will run for the next three weeks in Austin on Airport Blvd and the corner of 53rd Street.
SEE AUSTIN BILLBOARD ART HERE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/79559505@N06/28633877695/in/dateposted/
WHERE: Airport Blvd on the corner of 53rd Street. Austin, Texas.
WHEN: The billboard starts on Monday, August 1st
The DPH is asking for comments from the public. Last Wednesday, allies including Progress Texas, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, UltraViolet and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, delivered nearly 5,000 comments urging the Department to revise misinformed pamphlets the state is required to give out to women seeking abortion care. This comes in addition to 40,000 UltraViolet members nationally who signed a petition urging the DPH to revise the pamphlets.
SEE PETITION HERE: https://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/TX_abortion_pamphlet/
"It was only a month ago that the Supreme Court struck down Texas' draconian abortion law, but the state is at it again," said Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet. "In yet another disgusting attempt to push their personal agenda onto women, Texas officials are requiring reproductive healthcare clinics to distribute bold-faced, disproven lies to women.
"When making a decision about one's health, everyone deserves to be provided with objective and medically accurate information; reproductive health is no exception. It is shameful that Texas officials are willing to limit pregnant women's access to valuable information in order to push false, anti-abortion rhetoric." added Chaudhary.
UltraViolet is a powerful and rapidly growing community of people mobilized to fight sexism and create a more inclusive world that accurately represents all women, from politics and government to media and pop culture.
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