Tattoo shops rally for abortion rights, including Fort Myers’ HOWL

Tattoo shops across the country are breaking out their ink and needles Sunday to raise money and awareness for abortion rights.

More than 150 shops will take part in the “My Body My Choice Tattoo Flash Event,” including HOWL in Fort Myers and six other Florida shops, according to the event’s website.

The reason? The Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn “Roe v. Wade” — and the approximately 26 states that have since outlawed or limited abortions.

“With the recent Supreme Court actions, honestly, it’s just bewildering how women’s bodies can be regulated by somebody else,” says HOWL co-owner Alainna Zwiernik.

“So it’s important for us to recognize that bodily autonomy is a human right for everyone.”

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HOWL will be offering simple, flash-style tattoos for $100-$200 each from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. The tattoos show images of wire coat hangers, burning bras and slogans saying things such as "GIRL POWER," "DISSENT" and "HANDS OFF."

Twenty-five percent of all flash-tattoo and piercing sales will be donated to the national event’s designated charity, The National Network of Abortion Funds.

“This is a great cause to raise awareness,” Zwiernik says, “and it’s a great charity.”

HOWL co-owner and tattoo artist Andy Howl designed several of the flash tattoos being offered Sunday, as well as an event T-shirt showing a rattlesnake twisted into the shape of a uterus and the slogan “BITE BACK! PROTECT CHOICE.”

The shirts will sell for $20, and 100 percent of that goes to the charity, he says.

Howl says his tattoo shop has always stood against oppression and supported personal rights. So he wasn’t happy about the Supreme Court decision.

“This is just a huge slap in the face…” he says. “We’ve always been against that kind of conservative control of people’s personal lives.”

The national event was organized by New York tattoo artist Krista Reid.

“The overturn of Roe V. Wade affects us all, whether we realize it or not,” Reid wrote on the event’s website. “The government isn’t listening...

“I’m ready to light the fire that burns this system to the ground and am doing it in the only way that I know how; by unifying like-minded individuals and standing up to the people that are trying to silence us, with the use of body art. Through tattoos and this event, we can become one.”

Five tattoo artists will be available for tattoos and piercings Sunday at HOWL. Each tattoo will take about 25 to 40 minutes, Howl says.

The event's designated charity, the National Network of Abortion Funds, is a collection of more than 80 organizations working together to “remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access,” according to the network’s website.

That includes helping to pay for women’s abortions and offering transportation, childcare, translation, doula services and a place to stay for women who have to travel out-of-state to get an abortion.

Learn more about the national event at mychoice.ink.

HOWL is located at 4160 Cleveland Ave, Fort Myers. For more information, call 239-332-0161 or visit howlgallery.com.

Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. Email him at crunnells@gannett.com or connect on Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter