AR STORY//OUR STORY
“This is about the state appropriating our narrative…”
AR STORY//Our Story was shot in the 6 months following the Dobbs Decision in my home state of Arkansas.
The Dobbs Decision, issued by the Supreme Court June 24, 2022, removed federal protection of Abortion Rights, leaving roughly half of American women of reproductive age with limited or no access to Abortion care.
This project utilized a "micro/macro" approach, doing a deep-dive in one state, my home state of Arkansas, to look at the broader campaign of ever dwindling civil liberties, specifically, reproductive rights and Access, that sought to and has been systematically limiting and banning abortion care and access in a number of states, limiting access for almost half of all women of reproductive age now, in the United States.
The goal of this project was to document the resistance in red states, like Arkansas, dubbed the “Most Pro-Life State” for the fifth consecutive year. And answer,"why this issue? Why & how did this happen? And why does every one want to point and wag their finger at everyone else?"
This project also examines the political, cultural, & legal conditions that gave rise to a campaign that effectively blocked/limited access to reproductive health care access for half of American women of reproductive age.
This story is told in “AR” words, by the women who lived it, originally in long-form interviews.
These women worked to provide basic healthcare: reproductive access and/or needed it, in a world of ever-dwindling access and multiple bans that culminated into a Trigger law and complete Abortion ban, certified in Arkansas the day of the Dobbs Decision.
These voices include: the head of the ACLU - who fought these policie; the last Abortion Provider in the state, clinic escorts; the founders and administrators of
AASN, an abortion fund that include a mother/daughter team and a former 5th generation Seventh Day Adventist; a local Grassroots organize - minister, and doctor; the former President of Planned Parenthood, who also taught sex-ed in schools and ran a teen-maternity clinic, and a woman: a mother of two, who “got the call” June 24th, canceling her appointment and leaving her scrambling without options.
AR VOICES Include:
Roz Creed &
Alexandra (Ali) Taylor
Arkansas Abortion Support Network - AASN
Roz & Ally are mother-and-daughter cofounders (2 of 3, including Karen Musick, pictured above) of AASN - Arkansas Abortion Support Network, an abortion fund, which provided funds, escort, transport, & access to help people access Abortion Care in Arkansas before the Dobbs' Decision and helps patients' access care out of state after.
Dr. Anika Whitfield
Grassroots Arkansas
Dr. Whitfield, a native of LIttle Rock, is a civil rights activist, physician, and ordained Baptist minister. A co-chair of Grassroots Arkansas, Dr. Whitfield says reproductive rights are “common sense”, as she believes in people's right "to make decisions for themselves". Dr. Whitfield works from a daily “abolition mentality” for Prison Abolition and to gurantee equitable distribution of and access to resources. Dr. Whitfield preaches a message of “love thy neighbor”, which includes the fight for Reproductive Justice.
Dr. Janet Cathey
Planned Parenthood of Great Plains
Janet Cathey is a lifelong Arkansan and Board Certified OB/GYN. Cathey was born in Mt. Home, Arkansas, raised in Arkansas and educated in Arkansas, where she has been practicing and taking care of the women of Arkansas for nearly 40 years. Cathey has been providing Transcare for most of her career. Previously in private practice, Dr. Cathey has served as faculty at UAMS - the University of Arkansas of Medical Sciences, the teaching hospital in Little Rock, where Dr. Cathey also
started the first Transcare clinic in Arkansas. Dr. Cathey was the last abortion provider in the state from Arkansas and currently works at Planned Parenthood in Little Rock, she has been for the last six years and serves as the Director of Transgender Education for Planned Parenthood of Great Plains.
Holly Dickson
Executive Director ACLU of Arkansas
Holly is the Exectuive Director of the ACLU and has served as Staff Attorney since 2006. Dickson has been involved in active litigation: fighting unconstitutional legislation since 2006. She most recently fought against the ban on providing gender-affirming care to Transgender Youth in Arkansas and won.
Austin Bailey
The Arkansas Times
Bailey was formerly an Editor/Reporter at The Arkansas Times, Arkansas’ only left-leaning newspaper, where Austin, a mother of two teenage boys, covered local: Central Arkansas and state government. Austin is currently serving as the first female Editor-in-Chief of the Arkansas Times.