Dystopian site mirrors what it’s like trying to get an abortion in states with 6-week bans
Creative agency Schaaf developed The Inconvenience Store, which is full of pop-ups, age gates and conflicting information
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As more restrictive abortion laws have taken hold in many states since the fall of Roe v Wade, people seeking reproductive care face byzantine regulations that make the process almost impossible to navigate.
To raise awareness of what this is like for people, creative agency Schaaf developed a mobile site called The Inconvenience Store that takes people through the process—with all the roadblocks and restrictions built into the UX itself, making for an unpleasant, even dystopian experience.
The store is all but unshoppable—full of pop-ups, age gates and conflicting information as a timer counts down until six weeks are up and an abortion is illegal. The poor digital experience mirrors the poor experience in the real world, where complex “safety measures” imposed by anti-abortion lawmakers often have the effect of shutting down avenues to any care at all.
Also read: Publicis and IPG will pay for travel for abortions for U.S. employees
The site was designed with input from Dr. Emily Boevers, OB-GYN physician and co-founder of political action committee Iowans For Health Liberty. Along with raising awareness, the effort is designed to boost voter registration among Gen Z by pointing to Vote.org with the call to action “Vote for Your Life.”
“First-time voters are less likely to connect with a specific political candidate, but keeping the government out of their healthcare decisions is something that can really motivate them to get to the polls,” says Meg Farquhar, executive creative director at Schaaf.
“This project highlights the reality of reproductive healthcare in America today—there’s no hyperbole here,” said Kendra Schaaf, founder and CEO of Schaaf. “In fact, the reality is that over 26 million people across 14 states are impacted by the six-week abortion bans. These bans have restricted an essential aspect of our reproductive healthcare.”
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