Pro-Abortion Activists Cover Up Pro-Life Billboards in Chicago

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 4, 2011   |   11:55AM   |   Washington, DC

Pro-abortion activists in Chicago have covered up a group of billboards a pro-life organization put up around the city last week to draw attention to how abortion destroys human life and targets African-Americans.

Life Always, the organization behind New York City’s controversial “Dangerous Place” billboard last month — taken down by Lamar advertising after complaints from pro-abortion activists — initiated another campaign, this time in Obama’s hometown. The new campaign includes an image of the president.

The billboard states: “Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.” The image of Obama faces the capitalized word “leader,” and readers are directed to visit https://www.thatsabortion.com for more information.

However, abortion activists are not happy with the choice of the pro-life group to educate about protecting human life and a group calling itself “social workers and community members,” is claiming responsibility for censoring the ads. The unnamed group claims the ads are disrespectful and do not represent the views of Chicago residents and so they “wanted to replace the negative, condemning message with a positive one,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

The banners — big white sheets — the abortion activists used to cover up the billboards have messages such as “In 21 minutes this sign should be gone” and “Abort Racism.”

Jill Stanek, a pro-life blogger based in the Chicago area, commented on the censorship.

“Well, the Chicago pro-life billboards have stayed up longer (6 days) than the New York billboard did (1 day), but it’s not for lack of trying,” she said.

Stanek said “Planned Parenthood is trying to incite an uproar in the black community” and noted a Chicago Flame story discussing a press release the abortion business sent out last Tuesday following the unveiling of the new billboards calling them “an offensive and condescending effort to stigmatize and shame African-American women while attempting to limit their ability to make private, personal medical decisions.”

CEO and President of PP of Illinois Carole Brite added, about opposition from local abortion activists, “They’re not going to stand for it. We’re hopeful that this sort of public outcry will force either the owner of the billboard or the billboard company to take it down.”

She said the abortion business had contacted organizations such as Black Women for Reproductive Justice, the Chicago Abortion Fund, and the ACLU about the issue as well as other unnamed community leaders, religious leaders, and elected officials in the Englewood area where many of the billboards were put up along roadsides.

The Flame indicated Brit said “the more people who know about the billboards, the more likely Life Always will be forced to take them down.”

Stanek responded, “Of course. PP is the group primarily responsible for the black genocide and doesn’t want the notoriety – or any revenue loss. Pro-aborts have gone so far as to even try to get help from their pro-infanticide president.”

Reverend Derek McCoy, a board member of Life Always, told LifeNews.com as the billboards went up that more than 30 billboards will be placed in South Chicago to encourage reflection on the disproportionate number of abortions among African Americans. Census and CDC reports state that African Americans comprise less than 13 percent of the population and about 36 percent of the country’s abortions.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 25,196 abortions in Cook County, Illinois alone in 2009 and that number doesn’t include the number of abortions done in suburban counties surrounding Chicago.

“Our future leaders are being aborted at an alarming rate. These are babies who could grow to be the future Presidents of the United States, or the next Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington or Maya Angelou,” he said.