Feminist Anti-War Resistance
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On September 28, International Abortion Rights Day, activists from FAR put up two real billboards (pictured) in support of abortion rights in the city of Kurgan. They are located on Constitution Street and disguised as advertisements for a coat hanger shop with ambiguous slogans: “Coat hangers — for all occasions,” “Your choice is in our hands”’ and “Russian quality + Soviet traditions.” The QR code on the billboards leads to the website https://domveshalok.ru/with the following text :
OUR BODY — OUR CHOICE: LET’S PRESERVE THE RIGHT TO ABORTION!
“There is currently no federal ban on abortion in Russia, but regions are already introducing restrictions. In the Kurgan region, fines for ‘encouraging’ abortion reach 200,000 roubles, private clinics refuse to perform the procedure under pressure from the authorities, and ‘preventive talks’ manipulate women’s choices.
“Hangers are for dresses, not abortions. Our bodies are not demographic tools. We have the right to reproductive choice — both abortion and motherhood. We have the right to a peaceful and free state where it is not scary to give life to a new person. Banning abortion will not encourage us to give birth to more children.
“Our campaign is a response to conservatives, the state and pro-lifers with their manipulative campaigns with children’s shoes displayed outside churches. While the war continues, living children are dying. Take care of those who have already been born. Stop the fighting.
“To every parliamentarian trying to score political points on the issue of abortion, we say:
“If you wage war, you give birth!”
Sign our petition for the right to abortion! (https://www.change.org/p/%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BE-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82)
- The FAR takes full responsibility for the action; all intermediate authorities involved in the implementation of the action were misled by us. We presented ourselves as sales agents for hangers and authentically imitated a shop.
Kurgan authorities dismantle FAR billboards promoting abortion rights (they hung safely for two weeks)
The Kurgan authorities told local media that they would dismantle two billboards installed by the https://t.me/femagainstwar/15719 on Constitution Street in Kurgan as a protest against the tightening of restrictions on abortion rights in Russia. The billboards, timed to coincide with World Abortion Rights Day, were disguised as advertisements for a coat hanger store with ambiguous slogans: “Hangers for all occasions,” “Your choice is in our hands,” “Russian quality + Soviet traditions.” The QR code on them leads to a FAR petition for abortion rights.
The Kurgan administration said: “The city administration did not approve or place these banners. No one approached the city administration for approval of this advertisement. The banners were placed by a private advertising agency and will be removed in the near future.”
By this point, the billboards had been hanging in Kurgan for two weeks.