Stanek weekend question: Should displays using abortion victim imagery be banned if causing accidents?
A petition drive is underway in Canada to block the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform from displaying banners with photos of abortion victims on an overpass in Calgary (pictured above) after one was perceived to have caused a car accident there this week.
Abortion, a disturbing reality
Some pros and cons, quoting CBC.ca:
For years, an anti-abortion organization has been temporarily hanging the banners from pedestrian bridges over the busiest roadway in Calgary….
“I had a traumatic miscarriage four or five years ago, and the first time I saw the banner, it was devastating,” said [Nicole] Bross, a mother of two. “It brought back all these awful, awful feelings.”
Stephanie Gray, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, the group behind the highway displays, said it’s part of a continuing effort to spread their message.
“As we have, in our 12-year history, used images of abortion-victim photography, we’ve seen, year after year, people change their minds on abortion because of what they see,” said Gray….
Bross said abortion isn’t the issue for her. Rather, she said it’s a matter of safety, as she worries the banners are distracting to drivers.
“These people claim to care about life and the unborn,” she said. “But they don’t care about the lives of the people that they’re potentially endangering.”
Gray, however, disputed the implication this is a distracted-driving issue.
“If someone is driving down the road and chooses to look out their window at a billboard or at an accident, and then they rear end a person in front of them, do we blame the pre-existing accident or the billboard for the accident? Or do we blame the driver for not maintaining their attention on their driving?”
Your thoughts? And be sure to weigh in on the poll…
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I could see where this could cause an accident. IDK I think these signs are better displayed in front of an abortion clinic.
I don’t think any signs should be able to be hung like that over a freeway. Buy a billboard – but having stuff right over the road like that shouldn’t be allowed.
I’m sure that all pro-life groups that care about children out of the womb will decry this group’s purposeful engagement in an activity that they know could result in the injury or death of a child.
I think I agree with Ex-GOP here, I disagree with hanging any signs over the freeway where they could pose a distraction & hazard to drivers. A billboard would be a better option, although I don’t agree with placing the graphic abortion images anywhere where children might see them. Also I think those who make the claim “if pro-lifers cared about the born” & “these people claim to care about the unborn & born but..” are missing the mark & the point of the pro-life message, which is the humanity & personhood of a human individual from conception until natural death, regardless.
There are many other times and places where such images can be used. I think it is quite reasonable to refrain from using them in places where they may pose a threat to public safety. The last thing that drivers today need is another distraction.
Subject matter aside, it doesn’t look any more distracting than a thousand other distractions on the typical freeway. As for the subject matter…abortion is legal, ordinary, and a widely supported practice.
As long as it remains effective at starting good conversations…it should continue.
There are inappropriate places for graphic images. A public roadway like this is perhaps one of the most appropriate places…
If common-sense people think that our banner is in a location that endangers innocent people, then we should respect their opinion.
Even if we disagree.
We do not want the public to hold an impression that pro-lifers would ever willfully endanger the public. We are not like the sleazy abortion practitioners.
If any still object distracts you enough from your choice to drive and causes you to have an accident, you need to be ticketed for inattentive driving. And you should seriously consider that others are at risk because of your lack-of-focus issues and should allow others to drive you instead.
“Oh, I was so hungry officer and that burger on the restaurant banner caused to me to go in the ditch!”
an old saying: ‘A glass of water can kill you, so water is bad’ is what this reminds me off. Especially in Canada, abortion/politics is so mundane and being pro-life is being a #1 FANATIC … any attempt to ‘break-into’ this purposeful mental block/pre-judgement, will always be criticized.
John,
With the help of Praxedes I have diagnosed that Progessives havea need for condonation because that is how they validate their choices. They know how difficult (almost impossible) it is to find people who could condone the reality of abortion when they are faced with it on a billboard.
That said. I think it this signage would be appropriate on a billboard on the side of the road but no signs should be allowed on overpasses due to safety concerns.
I passed a billboard in PA with the severed fetal head. Id seen it before so it didnt startle me. It was a good add for a billboard and I do hope it made people stop and change their minds.
We have signs located just like this on many bridges near me. I think the Victoria’s Secret models are just as likely to distract drivers as this, and this is an infinitely more important message.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Free speech has
been denied pro-life cause for too long. This has nothing to do with stupid drivers and everything to do with saving the lives of children. Keep up the graphic displays of the truth. ON EVERY CORNER
As more and more billboards spread along my local roadways, I think advertising to people who are supposed to be attentive to their driving should be what we’re discussing… not the specific nature of the advertisement. The whole idea of roadside ads is to be eye-catching. This happens in a wide variety of ways – each which distract people. The ones that tempt me to be a bad driver are the ones with a lot of text because I foolish try and read them.
Heather, the problem in Canada is that prolifers cannot demonstrate in front of abortion clinics. I don’t know what the situation is like in Calgary but in other areas of the country, especially Toronto even praying in front of the abortuary there has resulted in jail time for Linda Gibbons and another young prolife woman. We unfortunately do no have the same carte blanche protection of free speech that you do in America.
are missing the mark & the point of the pro-life message, which is the humanity & personhood of a human individual from conception until natural death, regardless.
And I merely expressed my hope that people who want to protect the human individual will want to protect the individual from injury as well as abortion. I’m somewhat surprised that anyone thinks the question, “Should we cause automobile accidents, or not?” even needs discussion.
“Oh, I was so hungry officer and that burger on the restaurant banner caused to me to go in the ditch!”
Isn’t this whole signage campaign based entirely on the premise that people should respond to a picture of the mangled body of a precious baby more strongly than they will to a picture of a tasty cheeseburger?
What a load! Drove security for a Truth Truck and saw NO accidents. Never look up when driving. Other cars are to the left, right, in front and behind. Worried about what cars and stuff above? Nope!
Personally think that the ones that noticed are the ones who had their eyes opened by God.
Google has an answer to ‘driver distraction’ … their driverless cars without a steering wheel or brakes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/28/g...
I feel that an abortion victim photo should be held by or stand near by a person who can explain what is going on. Otherwise it is a gory picture that disturbs, for a lot of people have weak stomachs, but not enlightens.
Ty Patricia for letting me know that. I had no idea. I have no problem with graphic abortion pictures. I hold them in front of abortion clinics. I guess my point is that if a driver takes their eyes off the rd to look up at a sign (no matter what it is) then they may have an accident. I was a texting driver until I rear ended someone. Luckily nobody was hurt and the 2 women had a small scratch on their car but let the incident go.