Pro-life billboard removed for fear of pro-abortion violence
Read previous story here.
From CNN this morning:
A New York billboard that focused exclusively on African-American abortion rates was taken down because of concerns for public safety, said Hal Kilshaw, spokesperson for Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising, on Thursday. The billboard was erected by group opposed to abortions.
The billboard was attached to a building that houses the restaurant Lupe’s Kitchen. Some of the wait staff, Kilshaw said, were being harassed by patrons who objected to the billboard. In addition, a scheduled protest Friday by people opposed to the billboard prompted public safety concerns, which led to the company’s decision.
Kilshaw said the controversy surrounding the billboard did not factor into the company’s decision to take it down.
In this WPIX.com news report, Al Sharpton says, “This proves there’s nothing like the scorn of women scorned, and these women groups, and some that were supporting them, they were able to get a quick fix….”
Contrary to Sharpton’s portrayal of the billboard’s removal, the group sponsoring the ad, Life Always, did not agree to it. From the Associated Press this morning:
A spokesman for…Lamar Advertising… said that while the company respects the right to freedom of expression, the decision to take down the billboard Thursday night was for “public safety.” He said waiters and waitresses at a restaurant in the building where the billboard was placed had been harassed.
Life Always said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees” with Lamar’s decision to remove the billboard. The organization said “the intent of the board is to call attention to the tragedy and the truth that abortion is outpacing life in the black community.”
As an aside, the mother of the girl in the photo also wanted the sign taken down, even though her daughter’s photo was obtained legally, and she had signed a release with the understanding her it might be used in ways in which she disagreed.
So far no MSM outlets have put 2 and 2 together to rightfully portray the pro-abortion community as violent, even though though that is specifically what is the problem here.
I hope Life Always gets all of its money back. Even if it not, it sure got its money’s worth. News of the ups and downs of this billboard has traveled around the world, along with its message that 60% of all black babies in NYC are aborted.
Interesting that pro-lifers are the ones being portrayed as “outrageous.”
Wow, that didn’t take long to have it taken down.
Photos of the billboard can still make an impact on the internet so it won’t go away entirely, thankfully.
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Beyond belief that they gave in so quickly to weak-minded abortionist opposition.
Pathetic that the abortionist movement objects to the billboard, but not to the crimes which they support and commit.
Ridiculous that the “Reverend” Al Sharpton claims to be a “Christian” “clergyman” while supporting unlimited violence against all human beings before we are born, violence which is universally condemned by all true Christian churches.
God forbid that the media might “portray the pro-abortion community as violent”. That movement is the most violent in history as they have killed 1,600,000,000 human beings around the world since 1965, according to estimates.
It is a very sad world in which we live and it is painfully hard to get a large part of our human race to accept the truth about life.
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If the billboard was taken down because of fear of violence by the pro-aborts, doesn’t that make them terrorists? Afterall, terrorists use fear of violence to get what they want. Seems like those who like killing unborn children are not that dissimilar.
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I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that those who cheerfully defend child murder have no problem using violence to destroy the Freedom of Speech.
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Al Sharpton is such a sellout. The other thing about him that drives me nuts is that if there’s any conflict between a black person and a white person, he’ll automatically side with the black person even if evidence suggests they’re wrong. Heck with content of their character, it’s all about the color of their skin for him.
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A new lesson to teach in American Civics classes: don’t agree with something? Threaten violence and it will go away.
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Pro-aborts must be stupid! How dumb do you have to be to think just because a restaurant is near a billboard it endorses the billboard. Are all pro-aborts blonde? No offense to the blondes out there ;-) But really, they can’t grasp biology, theology and now this? pathetic.
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As Gerard comment yesterday, what statistic would generate outrage, if a 60% abortion rate does not? Do the people of New York have to wait until a “Children of Men” movie situation before they are moved? (That’s the movie where no children are born for over a decade).
I read a statistic recently that, in those rare cases when a rape survivor does get pregnant, 73-80% choose life for their baby. If that’s true, then a human being is more likely to survive a rape conception than a consensual sexual encounter in certain communities. THAT is the saddest thing in the history of sad.
And as far as that media-glomming opportunist mentioned in the article, Tawana Brawley could tell you a thing or two about his lack of ethics and what it did to her life. Hers could have been a forgotten story about a girl who tried to cover up being naughty for a weekend. But no, The Creature had to sink his claws into her situation to propel himself to fame, and ruin her life while trying to ruin the lives of policemen and officials who’s skin happened not to be the same color. I know Jesus wants to save every last lamb, but only a messiah would not want to banish that man as far away as he could be banished.
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If they have no problem violently killing innocent, defenseless children, they have no problem rendering violence anywhere else.
They want to shut down freedom of speech. Time for some truth trucks to roll.
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Could someone please call Rev.Sharpton and clue him in on the facts?
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One little billboard message telling the truth went worldwide with its message.It will do the rounds again tommorrow when all the media gloat that it was taken down.You just couldn’t buy that worldwide publicity for your one billboard message.So even though the billboard was taken down this group have scored a massive hit against the pro-aborts.It shows that they don’t like the truth.Letters and emails to some of the media which I have seen to day come from pro-aborts and they even admited the message was telling the truth.A real PR coup for those trying to get out the truth.
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I kind of see it like you do, Myke. Although pro-lifers were sold out. But the Lord knows.
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We must sometimes see that the Lord works in mysterious ways Jill.The UK Daily Mail treid to play with statistics and hide the 60% black Babies aborted figure,I was able to not only reveal the truth but use your info about the New York Councilor trying to shut down the Life-Centres which do so much good for women,as well as mention LIVE ACTION videos showing Planned Parenthood help pimps misuse underage children.They have kicked themselves in the backside this time!
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But we prolifers are such awful violent terrorists, huh. And proaborts are so ‘peaceful.’ Rolling my eyes.
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Sydney, no pro-aborts are red heads…
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I agree with you Myke. The “bad” publicity means that this billboard, visible to a handful of people in NYC, shall go viral, along with the story of just how and why it came down.
As Jill said, the Lord knoweth.
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from Virtue Media Ads,
http://www.blackdignity.org/
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http://gerardnadal.com/2011/02/25/the-three-week-billboard-gone-in-a-new-york-minute/
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It was needlessly provocative and offensive. Even if it had some kind of legitimate message, most people, particularly African-Americans, who see it would not get it and instead take it to mean something more sinister. I’d really like to know who thought something like that would be a good way to promote their cause.
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Ok, Joan, I’ll bite. Would you care to comment below and type PRECISELY what text would need to appear on the sign to make it less provocative and offensive to you. Don’t just come back with an argument. RETYPE the text as you would have done it yourself. Triple dog dare you.
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Joan,
Read my article linked above and tell me what was offensive.
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@joan: Give that Jill linked to the group that put the billboard up in her first post on the subject, and that the names of all their leaders are on their website (which was also on, you know, the billboard itself), if you don’t know who was behind it by now, then it’s your own fault.
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“People have the rights to their views. Again, we have the right to our personal religious views, we don’t have the right to offend people.”
Actually, Rev. Sharpton, this has nothing to do with religion. And free speech is protected under the Constitution whether you are offended or not. There’s no such thing as a constitutional right not to be offended.
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I’ll tell you what’s offensive.
First, whether intentionally or not, it shames women for decisions they’ve made as INDIVIDUALS. Second, the message implies that women of color are dupes incapable of making decisions for themselves….somehow they need white middle class Christians to make tough life decisions for them. Third, portraying women as victims at the mercy of some eugenicist PP “conspiracy” really does obscure the reasons WHY women choose abortion. The fertility rate is higher in black communities for a variety of reasons. And poverty and limited economic opportunities are also mitigating factors. But erecting the PP bogey-strawman somehow lets you off the hook for attending to these deeper structural issues.
Oh, and finally: the mother of the child in this photograph doesn’t want her kid associated with it. She signed off the rights to the photo without expecting it to be co-opted by militant pro-lifers.
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Hi Megan!!
Happy Friday to you!! Nothing else going on? Go out for dinner, take in a movie, have some fun!!
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My new slogan: “Way to project!”
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Jill, I have a question:
Do you consider the “pro-abortion community” or prochoicers to be only prochoice activists, or is it anyone who believes they are prochoice even if they do not speak up about it?
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Sure I’m offended by a few billboards. But do I
then have a right to harass and threaten people about them?
Especially waitstaff who had nothing to do with it?
From Gosnell to PP abuse coverup scandals, from Sibelius and Tiller and the Kline trial to Schulman the terrorist, and now this billboard decision, prochoicers are looking more and more scary and unreasonable than ever.
Prochoice responses are all deflection, hypotheticals, and no substance. Certianly no apologies regarding actions of leaders. I agree with Kissler- they need to regroup. With abortionists and supporters so negatively garnering attention, their movement is going nowhere and fast.
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First, whether intentionally or not, it shames women for decisions they’ve made as INDIVIDUALS.
It is not an individual’s decision weather or not another individual has the right to live. It’s a child, not a choice.
Second, the message implies that women of color are dupes incapable of making decisions for themselves….somehow they need white middle class Christians to make tough life decisions for them.
And Megan wins the gold-medal for the conclusion long jump!! As ninek said, you are most definately projecting on that one.
Third, portraying women as victims at the mercy of some eugenicist PP “conspiracy”…
The women aren’t the victims, the children are. And PP was founded partially because Margaret Sanger wanted to “get rid of human weeds,” or some racist trash like that.
As for “attending to these deeper structural issues,” the amount of charitable donations from Americans in the past few years, which were almos all from conservatives, was phenomenal. I just came back from some community service at my church helping give food that was donated freely by parishoners to the less fortunate in the community. Not to mention Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which New York is hellbent on bringing down.
So, even if poverty was a legitimate reason for murder, you can’t say that the pro-life community isn’t trying to adress the situation.
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Disgusting billboard. It completely insults the judgment and intelligence of black women. Black women decide if & when to have children – this ad completely ignores the decision black women make. Also, if it’s so dangerous in their uterus, anti-choicers, why the hell would you want them raising babies? Shame on anyone taking the woman out of this equation.
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Edia,
Mature men and women make the decision about what is the right time to have children before their pants come off, not after a baby is on scene. That goes for men and women of any race or ethnicity.
This ad does NOT ignore the decisions made by Black women. It laments the decisions of 60% of them in NYC who think that killing their baby is the ticket up the socio-economic ladder. By that calculus, and assuming its validity, Harlem should look like Scarsdale or Beverly Hills.
Why would we want them raising babies? Speaking for myself, I have long admired the warmth and love that African American women have had for their children, the inflection of pure love in their voice on “baby” when they speak of their child (of any age) and say, “That’s my baby.” The problem isn’t the mother’s womb, it’s the institution of abortion that allows young men to use young women and then pay them for a quick fix.
Are you okay with a 60% abortion rate in African American women in NYC? I’m not.
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“Oh, and finally: the mother of the child in this photograph doesn’t want her kid associated with it. She signed off the rights to the photo without expecting it to be co-opted by militant pro-lifers.”
Megs,
Calm down. Make some tea and chill. You don’t want to be a parent, so you are not seeing ths clearly.
I have a son and two daughters, all around the age of the girl in the photo. No parent in their right mind takes money in exchange for their child’s image being used in a stock photo, to be purchased by someone for whatever message they choose to attach. I wouldn’t.
This mother is having buyer’s remorse after she spent the money, and also probably hasn’t been informed of the statistics. So let’s cut to the chase Megs,
Are you okay with 60% of all African American babies in NYC being torn apart in their mother’s wombs? Yes or No. And no choice smokescreen. I want to know if these numbers gall you.
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Disgusting billboard
Actually, you’re right, it is disgusting. It’s disgusting that 60% of African Americans are killed before they are born, not that somone is drawing attention to that tragic fact.
It’s disgusting that freedom of speech, as well as the right to life, has been bullied into submission.
It’s disgusting that you can justify the murder of innocent human beings on the basis of “choice.”
I hope and pray that somewhere deep down, this is what you really find disgusting.
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@Megan
So should we respect any decision a person could make, or do we only extend this line of logic to abortion? The simple fact is that not all choices/decisions are equal, and that not all choices/decisions should be respected. You wouldn’t respect someone like Andrea Yates’ decision to kill her children, would you? If not, then why expect any differently when it comes to abortion.
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“Ok, Joan, I’ll bite. Would you care to comment below and type PRECISELY what text would need to appear on the sign to make it less provocative and offensive to you. Don’t just come back with an argument. RETYPE the text as you would have done it yourself. Triple dog dare you.”
How about “ATTENTION IMPOVERISHED WOMEN OF COLOR: please don’t exercise your constitutional right to abortion, because we, the middle-class white women who paid for this ad campaign, feel that it is immoral, and that it’s our business to police the actions of other people even when they have nothing to do with us whatsoever”.
“Are you okay with 60% of all African American babies in NYC being torn apart in their mother’s wombs? Yes or No. And no choice smokescreen. I want to know if these numbers gall you.”
If the abortion statistics for black women in New York “gall” you, it should be because society has failed them to the extent that they can’t feel economically or socially secure enough to bring unwanted children into the world, not because those women are living within their means by terminating pregnancies they can’t afford. They’re really in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation here: condemned by economically conservative people if they give birth to children and then rely on government services as a result, or condemned by socially conservative people if they do the financially responsible thing and have an abortion.
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Joan:
“If the abortion statistics for black women in New York “gall” you, it should be because society has failed them to the extent that they can’t feel economically or socially secure enough to bring unwanted children into the world”
So tell me, how do you feel about NYC’s recent attack on Crisis Pregnancy Centers, whose primary mission is to help these women economically and socially so that they can bring “unwanted” children into the world?
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What “attack” is that? Requiring them to post signs that they don’t offer abortions? That’s an “attack”?
And I dispute the claim that “crisis pregnancy centers” do any lasting good at all. At best they can help relieve the financial burden of prenatal and neonatal care, which only creates a false sense of financial stability for disadvantaged mothers. But poverty doesn’t end after the first year of an infant’s life. Unless and until “crisis pregnancy centers” are willing to financially support a woman for the minimum 18 years that her new child will be dependent on her, all they’re really accomplishing in the long run is encouraging women to take on long-term responsibilities that they do not have the long-term means to handle. That’s not a good thing. It perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
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Al Sharpton is an abscessed pimple on the buttock of the entire human race.
He is a ‘self’ promoting poverty pimp who exploits ‘racism’ to boltser his ego and line his pockets.
Al is embarassed by the ‘truth’ that he is complicit in the manipulation and explotation of the very ethnic group for whom he purports to advocate.
A.S. is a collaborateur with the PP, the enemy of ‘those kind of people’.[See Ruth ‘Buzzy’ Bader-Ginnsburger]
PP has been ‘putting the roof on his church’ for decades.
Sharpton is exactly the kind of spritually shallow and morally bereft ‘preacher’ that Margaret Sanger looked for to deceive those whom she considered ‘weeds’ into murdering their own children.
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Wow, Joan, go visit a crisis pregnancy center someday. You will be surprised.
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Gerard Nadal says: February 25, 2011 at 1:51 pm
http://gerardnadal.com/2011/02/25/the-three-week-billboard-gone-in-a-new-york-minute/
==============================================================
Gerard,
Clicked on the link, read your commentary.
WoW!
You be smokin’ hot bro.
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She [Ruth ‘buzzy’ Bader Ginsburg] discussed her views on abortion rights and sexual equality in a 2009 New York Times interview, in which she said regarding abortion that “[t]he basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.”[20] One statement she made during the interview,
“Frankly, I had thought at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”
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Some Guy,
Funny you should mention Andrea Yates, a woman whose husband pressured her into having more children she wasn’t psychologically prepared to deal with. Coerced procreation can have some pretty nasty outcomes, hmm?
Gerard,
A high number of unwanted pregnancies is never a good thing. But attacking abortion is akin to condemning the use of cholesterol-lowering medication: it doesn’t get to the root causes of the problem.
Also, who’s projecting now? We don’t know why this woman took her kids in to get photographed. Maybe she thought they were really cute, maybe she was trying to make some extra cash to feed those kids. Who knows. The important thing is that she doesn’t want to be associated with this campaign. And how are you so sure she’d change her mind if she “saw the statistics?” So telling, you haven’t even ASKED what black women themselves—not self-appointed spokesmen from the clergy—think about this.
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Joan @ 10:38
And I dispute the claim that “crisis pregnancy centers” do any lasting good at all. At best they can help relieve the financial burden of prenatal and neonatal care, which only creates a false sense of financial stability for disadvantaged mothers. But poverty doesn’t end after the first year of an infant’s life. Unless and until “crisis pregnancy centers” are willing to financially support a woman for the minimum 18 years that her new child will be dependent on her, all they’re really accomplishing in the long run is encouraging women to take on long-term responsibilities that they do not have the long-term means to handle. That’s not a good thing. It perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Peg (10:15 am) asked you a very good question. I agree with you, Joan, poverty stinks, but that’s about where our agreement ends. It’s so tiring to hear poverty used as an excuse for legal abortion. Would you dream of telling a poor woman who desperately wants children but cannot, that she’s better off without a child because there’s no hope for a better life anyways? Would you tell a woman not to bother going to the PRC to look for a high chair for her baby because she really needs the one from Target with all the bells and whistles? You give poor women far less credit than they deserve for their resourcefulness and ingenuity. You give pro-livers far less credit for their dedication to helping the poor than they deserve.
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And I dispute the claim that “crisis pregnancy centers” do any lasting good at all. At best they can help relieve the financial burden of prenatal and neonatal care, which only creates a false sense of financial stability for disadvantaged mothers. But poverty doesn’t end after the first year of an infant’s life.
You must not be aware that most offer toddler clothing and diapers as well. Also, many churches and other community organizations partner with CPCs to help with clothing for older children as well as food pantries, etc.
And I doubt you even know a woman who has been helped by a CPC. Perhaps you might want to speak to a few before you go making assumptions. Many of my former CPC clients, once they got past their stage of “need,” became volunteers and donors. They gave back. I think that’s a pretty good indication of how grateful they were for the help and believe others can benefit from it as well.
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all they’re really accomplishing in the long run is encouraging women to take on long-term responsibilities that they do not have the long-term means to handle. That’s not a good thing. It perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
I wasn’t aware that poverty was a lifelong sentence without any hope for reprieve.
Here is is again, folks – the idea that death is better than poverty. I guess Obama’s mama was really misguided.
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The worst kind of poverty is spiritual poverty.
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Is the billboard going to be re-posted elsewhere? There would not be any ability to claim the danger of violence if it were posted on a free-standing structure – un-attached to any building, would there?
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I hope Joan didn’t earn a degree with her inability to complete an assignment. I asked if she could write the text of the billboard in a way that was non-offensive and she or he did exactly the opposite. I think in the last month or two, we have seen revealed again the true face of so-called pro-choice.
Unable to imagine a city with children, opponents of crisis pregnancy centers are doing their utmost to push that number up past 60%, as far as they can. So-called pro-choice advocates who comment on this site, have in the last month or so revealed even more their utter hatred of life.
I think part of it can be explained by post-abortive sickness. Before they can heal, it seems, many post abortive people feel compelled to spread the death around. If they can’t have their baby, then no one should have a baby. While pro-choice advocates cry only for death of the unborn, they refuse to even passively allow other people to willingly and voluntarily help pregnant women who want to keep their babies. It’s not enough for them to simply NOT contribute to crisis pregnancy centers. No, they have to launch attacks in multiple states, not only New York City. When I see someone such as Joan comment that there is “no attack,” I must conclude she/he is either willfully blind, or sick and unable to help themselves. I pray that all post-abortive mothers and fathers find healing. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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What people need to understand is that this IS a racial issue simply because of how it affects one race disproportionately. It doesn’t mean that black women aren’t capable of making decisions for themselves or aren’t intelligent enough to live their own lives. All it means is that the decisions they make have a detrimental effect on the community and that is a problem. The pro-life group sends this message to ALL women, the only difference is, since black women are getting more abortions the message is more urgent for them. Keep in mind, a racial issue has to do with the impact on the race, not necessarily the intent, and I don’t want to see the black community or any other community’s population decline. Minorities need more representation in society as it is.
Women aren’t the ONLY ones who are affected. Abortion causes problems for the nation as a whole. A lot of women speak as if its all about them and what they need, anyone who disputes that is considered oppressing women.
That’s the problem with calling this a women’s rights issue, it ignores everyone else who suffers from it (i.e. the babies). Like most decisions in life, your actions will affect society as a whole and when it does we have a right to complain about it.
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JS, you might want to check your facts. I’m pretty sure that the black community actually has a higher birth rate than white Americans, and their relative proportion of the population is still growing.
The allegations of violence in this story are far too vague to evaluate, other than to say that it sounds very plausible that the ad company was just trying to cover themselves while removing an unpopular ad.
However, it’s very interesting that a blogger who purports to stand for the rights of children seems to have no problem with a child’s image being appropriated. Talk about hypocrisy.
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Figures of recent population trends are difficult to generate and are unreliable. Indications are that the Black proportion of the population is decreasing due both to the high rate of abortion of Black babies and to immigration by non-Blacks.
The child’s mother gave her permission for the picture to be used. That is not “appropriation.”
Hypocrisy is using euphemisms like “choice” in place of “abortion.” The proper word is so repulsive that even those who support abortion do not want to be publicly associated with it.
Interesting that Lamar Advertising feels threatened by potential pro-abortion violence. To the pro-abortion horde, the picture is “violence.” Lamar fears real violence, not the imaginary violence of the picture.
Pro-abortionists ARE violent. Pro-death police attack and abuse peaceful, nonresisting Pro-Life people who are holding signs and offering Pro-Life pamphlets and aid. Pro-death activists attack and mistreat Pro-Life people. Abortionists abuse women and children. Abortionists murder preborn babies.
I don’t blame Lamar for feeling threatened.
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
“Frankly, I had thought at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”
Imagine! A Jew referring to “populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” (!) She is a member of a population that many didn’t want to have “too many of.”
I am disgusted by the attitude of the pro-death commenters that Blacks are all poor and despondent, and that is why the have so many abortions. Yet it is just as much the Blacks who have nice homes in nice neighborhoods and drive nice cars to good jobs and to their own businesses who are aborting their babies. What excuse can the pro-abortionists come up with for that? I’m sure they can come up with some ridiculous, selfish, maybe even nonsensical excuse. Are all the pro-Black-abortionists lily-white, blond, blue-eyed neo-Nazi KKKers??
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Al: http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/pdf/79_PDF.pdf
Data’s from 2005. Hispanics had the highest birth rate, followed by blacks and Asians, followed by Native Americans and then finally whites. Please tell me if you can find more recent data that supports the claim that abortion is somehow making minority populations lose ground to majorities.
And yes, everyone who’s pro-choice is lily-white, blond, blue-eyed, neo-Nazis who are also in the KKK. That’s clearly true, and clearly an attempt on your part to have a reasoned discussion rather than to just troll.
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