Chicago, IL — On August 9, the Illinois-based pro-choice advocacy organizations Personal PAC and Men4Choice have partnered to launch "CallBullshit" or "CallBS," a first-of-its-kind campaign that employs provocative, creative tactics to empower men to join the fight to advance women's reproductive health rights.
The campaign and website callbs.org employ creative content to depict an alternate reality in which male reproductive health is under attack, posing the question: "Men don't have to put up with this BS — why should women?"
Three out of four Illinois men believe that abortion should remain legal and a private matter between a woman and her doctor, according to an April 2017 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling. But that figure has not always translated into grassroots action.
"We built this campaign to engage directly with the 75 percent of Illinois men who support women's reproductive health access," said Terry Cosgrove, President and CEO of Personal PAC. "We hope this campaign sparks men to take action and hold our elected officials accountable, creating a bigger wave of support for women's reproductive rights here in Illinois, across the Midwest and even nationwide."
In addition to social media engagement strategies, the campaign is organizing men to attend phone banks, canvass for women's health issues and help raise funds for pro-choice candidates.
"When we talked to men here in Illinois about the challenges women face when they seek reproductive health care, their reaction was, 'That's BS,'" said Oren Jacobson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Men4Choice. "Our campaign strives to build upon that disgust and the disbelief many man share around these unfair polices and scare tactics that rob women of their bodily autonomy and access to abortion."
The CallBS campaign launches as the General Assembly prepares to send House Bill 40 ( HB40 ) to Governor Rauner's desk. HB40 would ensure that abortion remains legal in Illinois even if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. The bill also would ensure that Medicaid and state employees' health insurance policies provide coverage for abortion care.
Each year, thousands of women travel to Illinois to access safe reproductive health care unavailable in their home state. Even so, 92 percent of Illinois counties do not have abortion providers.
Launched in 1989, Personal PAC is a non-partisan political action committee dedicated to protecting and advancing reproductive rights for all women by recruiting, electing and holding accountable pro-choice candidates to state and local office in Illinois. Men4Choice is a political action committee created in 2015 to create an entry point where men can get engaged, get educated and take action to support women in the fight to protect reproductive health rights.
