Inflatable IUD in Tallahassee as part of reproductive rights tour

The national campaign tour “IUD Express” stopped in Tallahassee on Monday and placed a 20-foot-tall inflatable contraceptive at Kleman Plaza, within sight of the state Capitol.

The giant, lilac-hued balloon, depicting an IUD, became visible in the Tallahassee skyline on the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal law on abortion.

City of Tallahassee Commissioner Jack Porter and Florida Democratic Party Chairman Nikki Fried were on hand to highlight the gag as a way to discuss what they believed was a growing threat to a person’s bodily autonomy woman.

“We are losing our freedoms and the Republicans refuse to stand up and fight back,” Fried told a group of reporters and photographers during an afternoon news conference in the sunlit square where no other human activity took place.

She said Florida lawmakers followed the lead of former President Donald Trump and the Supreme Court in imposing a six-week abortion ban, and now Florida lawmakers are failing to support birth control rights.

“As someone with an IUD, the idea that they could limit access to contraception is personally terrifying to me. Women across Florida know these are not just empty threats,” Porter said.

Abortion bans, restrictions on attendance in Florida and elsewhere

In the past two years, 21 Republican-led states, including Florida, have banned or imposed new restrictions on the procedure, and seven states have granted personality to an embryo.

The fallout from the Dobbs decision has intensified abortion as a divisive issue that both Democratic and Republican candidates are using to galvanize supporters ahead of the November elections.

PolitiFact fact-checked Vice President Kamala Harris when she said in Florida that 1 in 3 women of childbearing age live in a state that bans abortions. It turns out Harris had underestimated it – the number is closer to 40%.

Groups backed by George Soros, the billionaire contributor to progressive political causes and criticized by some for being too influential, launched the inflatable IUD’s nationwide tour earlier this month to raise awareness of abortion and contraceptive rights to take.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, agreed that significant events have occurred over the past two years that have fueled “the ongoing struggle for life.”

“There is still much work to be done to ensure that every mother and child is supported and protected,” Dannenfelser said in a prepared statement.

Inflatable IUD on the way across the country

The first public appearance of the 20-foot IUD balloon took place in Washington, DC, on June 5, after 39 Republican Senators and eight members of the House of Representatives voted ‘no’ on the Right to Contraception Act.

It includes protection for condoms, IUDs, the pill, patches and emergency contraception. IUDs are small, T-shaped plastic devices that are inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. They work by preventing sperm from fertilizing an egg and by preventing fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus.

From the nation’s capital, the balloon flew to Las Vegas for a photo shoot at the iconic ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign.

The IUD was then flown back east for the Florida leg of the tour. It made weekend appearances in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, before a stop in Tallahassee to mark the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision.

Talethia Edwards said she admired the giant balloon as a symbol of resistance to extremism. She is a doula, someone without medical training who helps during pregnancy and childbirth.

“This is a fight for a world where every woman has the freedom, tools and respect she deserves to make her own choices about her body and her future,” Edwards told a reporter.

What’s next

∎ From Tallahassee, the IUD will stay in St. Louis this weekend.

∎ Then it’s on to Syracuse, Albany and New York City, New York, and Toledo, Ohio, before summer break.

∎ The tour continues in August with visits to the Carolinas and Virginia planned.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected] and is on X axis @CallTallahassee.