A TRAVELING EXHIBITION BY SheDecides’s Abortion Archives
POWER TO DECIDE
Free admission
April 2026 | MCEC | Narrm/Melbourne, Australia
March 2027 | Coming Soon | NYC, USA
POWER TO DECIDE captures pivotal moments in the global movement for safe and legal abortion over six decades, from 1970 to 2025.
Through photography, film, graphic art, installations and archival materials, the exhibition explores the interconnected narratives of abortion rights advocacy and civic participation through time and across diverse territories.
The collection integrates different scales of intervention where the struggle for safe abortion takes place: in the home, on the streets, in hospitals and healthcare services, in civil society organizations, and in government. Acknowledging this multiplicity, aims to bear witness to those who came before us, celebrate our contributions and collective victories, and continue strengthening and expanding the reach of the global movement for abortion rights.
This retrospective does not seek to present a complete or total reality of abortion struggles. Each piece illuminates the unique cultural, political, and legal contexts of its time and geography, while collectively advocating for the essential right of every woman, of every person, to make autonomous decisions about their bodies. It echoes a universal call for dignity and choice.
This is a pop-up exhibition by the movement for the movement; it folds and unfolds sparking reflection and discussion on the future of abortion rights. Following the movement of the wave, the green wave, it is assembled and disassembled carrying its current to different territories.
Since its launch in New York in 2024, POWER TO DECIDE and Abortion Archives have taken part in conversations, exchanges and exhibitions across Reykjavik, Bangkok, New York, Salzburg, Bogotá and Naarm/Melbourne. The project is now working towards its next display in New York in March 2027.
HIGHLIGHTS
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PHOTOGRAPHY
1893 vote for women ,1973 our right to abortion
Unknown author
New Zealand, 1973
©Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand
Women marching along Willis Street, Wellington, on the way to Parliament to protest against the abortion laws. The march was organised by Women's National Abortion Action Campaign on the 80th anniversary of the day New Zealand women got the vote. Photographed 19 September 1973 by an Evening Post staff photographer.
Baas in eigen buik [Boss of one's own belly]
Unknown author
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1971
© Nationaal Archief
The text written on the person's body says: "baas in eigen buik" this is Dutch and translates to "boss of my own belly" in English.
It was a prominent slogan used in the 1970s feminist movement in the Netherlands advocating for women's reproductive rights, especially in relation to abortion and bodily autonomy. The person standing next to the photo is Marieke van der Plas, Executive Director of Rutgers, a Dutch center of expertise and NGO focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) during a POWER TO DECIDE Exhibition in NYC in September 2024.
You will never end abortion, you'll only end safe Abortion
Merja Iileka
Namibia, 2021
© Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition
March co-organized by Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition (VCRC), the leading coalition of reproductive justice organisations, activists, and individuals in Namibia. It was established to stand in solidarity and to support the reproductive justice movement in Namibia after a petition was launched with the aim to call for abortion law reform.
En bici [by bike]
Sol Avena
Argentina, 2020
© Sol Avena. LatFem. All rights reserved.
On November 4, 2020, weeks before the vote on the decriminalization of abortion, actions across Argentina brought attention to the urgent demand for legal abortion. In Buenos Aires, a march stretched from the Casa Rosada to the Congress: walking, skating, biking, riding motorcycles, and taking buses. After nearly twelve hours of debate, on the early morning of Thursday, December 30 2020, the Argentine Senate approved the law for voluntary interruption of pregnancy.
With gratitude to Photographer Sol Avena who granted permission for reproduction of her work as part of the POWER TO DECIDE Exhibition, postcard sets and for a copy to be kept in the Abortion Archives.
Tawhida Ben Cheikh: Pioneering Reproductive Choice in Tunisia
Author unknown, Undated circa 1970
© Wikimedia Commons
Tunisian physician Tawhida Ben Cheikh (1909–2010) helped establish family planning services and expand women’s access to reproductive healthcare. According to her daughter’s testimony, she provided clandestine abortions in the 1960s, before Tunisia broadened legal access in 1973. Her work connects the history of abortion to the everyday provision of care: listening to women, sharing knowledge, and making services accessible. Her legacy inspired Groupe Tawhida Ben Cheikh, founded in her honour in 2012 to advance sexual and reproductive rights, including access to safe abortion, in Tunisia.
Guerrilla Girls Demand a Return to Traditional Values on Abortion
Photo by Teri Slotkin / Poster by Guerrilla Girls
USA, 1992
© Teri Slotkin. All rights reserved.
The Guerilla Girls and the newly formed Women’s Action Coalition (WAC) joined forces along with several hundred thousand people to demonstrate in the April 5, 1992 Washington DC march and rally in support of abortion rights. The pro-choice rally came as the US Supreme Court was about to consider the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania state law that limited access to abortions. Many abortion rights advocates feared that the high court, with its conservative majority, might endorse the Pennsylvania law or even overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal.
With gratitude to Photographer Teri Slotkin who loaned this photograph to POWER TO DECIDE and participated in its first Exhibition in NYC, September 2024 and to keep originals in the Abortion Archives.
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LIGHT INSTALLATIONS
Light and shadow move in waves, echoing the shifting rhythms of the struggle for abortion rights. Moments of visibility and possibility give way to darkness, resistance and renewal. These installations invite us to experience movement as both a physical sensation and a collective force. Never still. Never finished.
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POSTER
Ceci n'est pas un cintre [This is not a hanger]
Le Planning Familial
France, 2016
© Le Planning Familial, IPPF Member Asocaiation
"The 'Ceci n'est pas un cintre' campaign showcases a series of posters, each presenting critical data on the global status of abortion rights.
Adiós [Goodbye]
Amnistía Internacional Argentina
Argentina, 2018
© Amnistía Internacional Argentina
On the eve of the Argentine Senate's decision on abortion decriminalization, Amnesty International published a full-page appeal in The New York Times aimed at Argentine senators. The ad, urging an end to unsafe abortion practices, carried the powerful message: "The world is watching." This exhibit features a reproduction of that page, highlighting a pivotal moment in international advocacy influencing national legislation.
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BATHROOM
A private room. A public story.
This is where life happens—quietly, urgently, every day.
Here, we bleed.
We have sex.
We take a test.
We make a decision.
We take care of ourselves and each other.
On these shelves: what we carry.
Misoprostol. A bandana. A sweatshirt. A backpack. Glitter on our skin.
Objects of care, of choice, of preparation, before stepping back out into the world.
This is where bodies are known.
Where autonomy is practiced.
Where the political begins as something deeply, unmistakably personal.
From here, we step out, together.
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DOCUMENT
Abortion Caravan Demands [Exhibition Copy]
© Rise Up! a digital archive of feminist activism
In the spring of 1970, seventeen women set out from Vancouver in a yellow convertible, a Volkswagen bus, and a pickup truck, calling themselves the Abortion Caravan. After traveling 3,000 miles, they "occupied" the prime minister's lawn in Ottawa, led a rally of 500 women on Parliament Hill, and famously shut down the House of Commons, the first and only time in history. Despite limited resources and no social media, their campaign united women across Canada at a time when many were dying from unsafe abortions.
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FILM
These films resist a single story, holding contradiction, tension, and silence.
Together, they restore complexity where dominant images have flattened reality.
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SOUND
Vote on abortion rights for the proposed new constitution for Chile
Documentation by Elisa Torres Olave, Daniela Prado Sarasua, Daniela Olivares Herrera. Nosotras Audiovisuales.
Chile, 2022
© Personal Archive of Daniela Prado Sarasua
Thousands of women gathered outside the Constitutional Convention—the body responsible for drafting the new constitution—in Santiago's civic center to celebrate as they awaited the results of the vote that approved the right to abortion and Comprehensive Sexual Education. There was euphoria at the prospect of being the first country to enshrine these rights in its constitution. However, months later, the constitutional proposal was overwhelmingly rejected in a national plebiscite, leaving the constitution created during the dictatorship (1973-1989), as the one still in force.
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CLOTHES
"Repeal the Eighth Amendment" jumper
Anna Cosgrave
Irealnd, 2015
Inspired by the tragic death of Savita Halappanvar in 2015, Wicklow native Anna Cosgrave designed these simple yet powerful jumpers, which quickly became iconic symbols in Ireland's fight for reproductive rights. The jumpers played a key role in mobilizing support for the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment, a historic victory for women's rights in Ireland.
With gratitude to Designer Anna Cosgrave who granted POWER TO DECIDE permission to reproduce her iconic REPEAL sweatshirt design for the exhibition and to keep originals in the Abortion Archives.
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MEMORY CIRCLE
Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, 2026
Drawing on First Nations yarning circle practices, the Memory Circle brought together generations of Australian abortion rights advocates at Women Deliver 2026 to share stories, honour those who came before, and imagine what comes next. Through objects, memories and collective listening, participants began weaving a shared history of the movement, with community ownership at its heart.
A collaboration between SheDecides’ Abortion Archives, Sexual and Reproductive Health Australia and MSI Reproductive Choices.
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WORKSHOPS
Zines by young activists, Benin 2024
Through zine-making, young activists explored bodily autonomy and abortion rights in their own words and images. These small, self-published works bring new voices into the movement’s visual history, creating space for young people to tell their stories and imagine the futures they want to build. These zines celebrate self-expression, the juxtaposition of complex ideas, and the freedom to publish on one’s own terms. Through workshops like this, POWER TO DECIDE invites communities to become active participants, shaping their own narratives and collectively building the movement’s living archives.