On a blistering August afternoon, sunbathers packed Clearwater Beach as boats sliced open wakes across the Gulf. But one vessel stole the gaze of thousands: a digital billboard boat cruising past the crowded shoreline, its towering screen flashing bold messages about abortion medications and access.
By the end of its four-week cruise around beaches and waterfront restaurants, the abortion boat had reached a calculated 3.2 million people, including through social media and news outlets, according to Olivia “Liv” Raisner — the guerrilla marketer behind the campaign.
Raisner isn’t selling pills directly, but through Mayday Health, Raisner’s “spreading simple facts” and connecting women with two vital services: free legal advice and confidential medical support from OBGYNs and nurses. Mayday Health, an abortion education initiative, targets states where abortion is banned or under siege.
Note: abortion in Florida isn’t fully banned. It’s legal for up to six weeks before the option ends. Extensions are available in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities or medical emergencies, which allow women 15 weeks to terminate. Further complicating matters is the prevalence of misinformation.
“The anti-choice movement has done a phenomenal job of disseminating misinformation,” Raisner said in an interview ahead of the boat launch, pointing to common myths, like claims that abortion pills are dangerous (they’re statistically safer than Viagra), and the rise of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), which steer women away from abortion through scare tactics.
Raisner has seen those tactics firsthand. Using a friend’s urine sample to fake a pregnancy, Raisner went undercover at a CPC and was told abortion would lead to suicide, infertility and even an inability to love future children. Between CPC pressure, legal confusion and restricted access to abortion medications, many women feel cornered.
The boat campaign followed an earlier stunt at the Indianapolis 500, where 350,000 fans looked up from the racetrack to see a surprise plane trailing a banner about abortion pills. That flyover lit up social media and reached an estimated 2.2 million people. The Florida boat made clear it could sustain and scale that visibility, ultimately surpassing the earlier effort by over a million people.
Mayday’s mission is far from over. Its next effort will blanket 104 gas stations across West Virginia and Kentucky with abortion education, displaying short, sharp messages on digital screens embedded in pumps.