Jamie Heard: Advocate for Alabama Families Featured in New Documentary Film

By Javacia Harris Bowser | The Birmingham Times

Advocacy work is something Jamie Heard never aspired to do. But on February 16, 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are legally considered “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This decision abruptly halted IVF treatments across the state. At the time, Heard was starting her second round of IVF as she and her husband Dontez were trying to get pregnant with their second child.

“It kind of made me feel like I had no choice but to advocate,” she said of the Court’s ruling,  “because at that point it literally felt like they came knocking on my door, coming after my family or what could be my future family.”

Heard began volunteering with Fight for Alabama Families (FFAF), Free & Just, and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, working alongside lawmakers, physicians, and fellow advocates to advance policies that protect reproductive healthcare and expand access to family-building options. She testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR.

Heard’s journey is one of the stories highlighted in the documentary film Show Me the Line, which will be screened at Sidewalk Film Festival on Saturday, August 29. Directed by Kelsey Lanuzzi and produced by Stacey Davis, Show Me the Line follows families impacted by infertility and IVF, while also exploring the legal and healthcare challenges surrounding access to fertility care in Alabama. The film centers on local journalist and visual artist Abbey Crain, who had already been in fertility treatment for over 5 years at the time of the ruling. After the judgment threatened to thwart her dreams of motherhood, she set out to connect with other IVF patients to celebrate these women who were fighting to hold on to joy and determination in the face of uncertainty. Women like Jamie Heard.

Representation Matters

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Heard moved to Birmingham in 2004 to study accounting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Today, Heard serves as a senior services business analyst at UKG, where she helps clients translate complex processes into effective solutions and navigate evolving tax and regulatory requirements. Her skills in business analysis, team building and change management directly support effective policy advocacy and organizational growth.

Heard is also the founder and creative director of Asthetik Studios and Asthetik Design Co., where she specializes in experiential design, commercial installations, and immersive brand activations. She’s worked with nationally recognized brands such as The University of Alabama football program and The Summit Birmingham.

Heard has also done set design and wardrobe styling for commercials. But being an advocate has meant she can no longer stay behind the scenes.

“Stepping in front of the camera has definitely been a challenge for me because I suffer with imposter syndrome, feeling like I’m not qualified enough, feeling like I don’t belong, feeling like my story is not worthy, or is just not as impactful as some of these other stories,” Heard shared. “But I also recognize the importance of being a Brown person and representing.”

Heard believes that women of color facing infertility often suffer in silence due to shame.

“When I was first diagnosed with infertility, I kept it quiet,” she said.  “I didn’t tell my friends, and I didn’t tell my family because I was embarrassed by it.”

Eventually she and Dontez turned to IVF to conceive their son Legend, who’s now four years old.

“When we started fertility treatments, we still didn’t tell anyone,” Heard said.  “Our parents had no idea at all what we were dealing with, but had I had access to the support and resources that I now know about, I feel like it would have made that journey a bit easier.”

Since getting involved in advocacy work, Heard has connected with a community of women around Alabama and across the country who she said offer her the “safe space” that she needs.

“That’s another thing that I’m hoping to like bring to light – even though you feel like you maybe can’t depend on family or friends or your religious group, there’s literally a whole community of us that you can lean on for support,” Heard said. “So you don’t have to go through it alone.”

Real People, Real Pain

Heard hopes that Show Me the Line helps viewers better understand the toll that infertility treatments can take — both emotionally and physically.

“I had a friend say to me, ‘Well, IVF is just a pill, right?’” Heard shared. She hopes the film will show, “what IVF truly looks like and what that experience looked like from our lens. And it’s not just us impacted; it’s our families, it’s our husbands that are impacted by that process.”

She also hopes viewers will be reminded that “there are real people, real women, real men that are going through this process.” So insensitive comments made on an article or social media post can be devastating.

When the New York Times interviewed Heard, she said she made the mistake of reading the comments on the online article.

“Someone said that my inability to conceive on my own is nature’s way of telling me that I don’t deserve to be a mother,” Heard shared. “And even though I don’t know that person and that person doesn’t know me, that impacts my mental space. It started making me question, Am I worthy of being a mom? And it started making me think about all of the flaws that my body has.”

Heard hopes the film will also encourage others to try to understand the science behind infertility treatments and not base their beliefs on hearsay.

“And I’m just hoping that people get to see the real lived experiences that we have to go through and understand how who we put in office really impacts our daily lives and decisions that impact our health, that impact our families, and impact basically the way that we live our life.”

The Elevator Pitch

Heard believes her story can also encourage others to speak up about the causes they believe in. She recalled the first time she went to the State House with Fight for Alabama Families for an advocacy day. She didn’t realize until she got to Montgomery that she was expected to share her story with government officials. Heard admits she thought about heading home. But then found herself on an elevator full of representatives.

“So I started to literally give my elevator pitch,” she said. “When I got done, the elevator opened, and one of the representatives said, ‘I can hear your voice is trembling, and I can tell you’re nervous, but you did amazing, and thank you for sharing your story.’ And it was a Republican!”

The highlight of the day, however, was a comment from her husband.

“He said, ‘When you got off that elevator, I didn’t recognize you. You were a completely different woman,’” Heard recalled.  “It makes me feel very empowered. It’s like the saying you just have to have faith the size of a mustard seed. Well, you just have to have courage the size of a mustard seed.”

Show Me the Line will be screened at Sidewalk Film Festival on August 29 at 5 p.m. at the Lyric Theatre with an encore presentation set for 7 p.m. at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theater at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. For tickets, visit www.goelevent.com/Sidewalk/e/ShowMeTheLine. Learn more about the film at showmetheline.com.