The Cost of Travel
CHALLENGE
When lawmakers restrict or ban abortion within their states, they force patients to cross state lines to access essential health care, often at great personal and financial cost. While headlines may focus on legal battles, the lived reality is that people are navigating impossible choices: missing work, arranging last-minute childcare, driving hundreds of miles, and covering costs for gas, hotels, and meals, all to access a procedure that should be safe, legal, and local.
Planned Parenthood set out to make the human cost of these abortion bans impossible to ignore. The challenge was how to cut through legal jargon and political rhetoric to center the voices of real patients, and show, in clear and compelling terms, how abortion restrictions function as de facto bans, disproportionately harming those with the fewest resources.
IMPACT
We created The Cost of Travel, a powerful storytelling campaign that brought to life the experiences of three real patients forced to travel for abortion care. Through animated shorts, illustrated graphics, Instagram stories, and both short-form and long-form video ads, we showed the ripple effects of abortion bans, not as abstract policy, but as deeply personal stories of sacrifice, stress, and resilience.
Each piece translated policy into emotional truth, making the cost of these laws visible and visceral. By blending illustration with first-person narrative, the campaign made space for storytelling that was both intimate and accessible, reaching audiences across social platforms and driving home the urgent need to protect reproductive freedom. The series became a cornerstone of Planned Parenthood’s digital storytelling strategy around abortion access, and helped reframe abortion bans as what they are: economic and moral injustices that deny people the autonomy to make decisions about their own bodies and futures.
You can view the Cost of Travel landing page here.
MY ROLE
As Art Director, I helped shape the visual identity and emotional tone of the campaign from concept through execution. I collaborated closely with illustrators, animators, and designers to bring each story to life in a way that felt both personal and universally resonant. I also contributed to scripting and narrative development, working to ensure that the creative choices remained grounded in the real voices and lived experiences of the patients we featured. My role spanned both strategic and creative development, helping align the visual storytelling with the broader advocacy goals of the campaign.
Team:
Illustration: Rozalina Burkova
Animation: Urim Apocalypse, Laura Porat
Planned Parenthood team: Sarah Sandman, Annie Pearlman, Adriana Morales
