Update: Ad Company Yanks Pro-Life Billboard in NYC
- Posted on February 25, 2011 at 6:59am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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NEW YORK (AP) — An outdoor advertising company has taken down an anti-abortion billboard that pictured a black girl along with the tagline, “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.”
Some residents had said they found the billboard offensive, and members of the black community were especially outraged by it.
A spokesman for Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising, Hal Kilshaw, 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.
The Rev. Al Sharpton praised the decision and canceled plans to protest the billboard Friday. The civil rights activist said the billboard “depicted black women in an unfair way.”
The billboard was placed in the busy Soho neighborhood of Manhattan by the group Life Always as part of a national campaign tied to Black History Month. The group said its message highlights Planned Parenthood’s “targeting of minority neighborhoods.”
Planned Parenthood called the ad a “condescending effort to stigmatize and shame African-American women.”
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.”
Sharpton said he was open to discussing the subject of abortion in the black community and did not dismiss it outright. But he called instead for a “sober analysis” and said he would call a community meeting to address it publicly.
“The way you address that is not by demonizing black women,” he said.
In December, the city’s health department released statistics showing 41 percent of pregnancies in the city were aborted in 2009. The rate was close to 60 percent for blacks.
—
Associated Press writer Tom McElroy contributed to this report.
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Comments (129)
SND97
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:31amFunny how the TRUTH is fading away as fast as our country is. Jesus PLEASE come and take us home.
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:36amThrow your hands up in the air and give up. Yep. You may as well not have an opinion at all. You’re alive and pining for some better world at some later date. Very helpful. Christ wasn’t a lazy, defeatist bum.
Report Post »SgtGGP
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:28amSave lives “a la carte”. Yes, no more indiscriminate save all endangered life in one plan. Now, you can pick and choose saving a life based on how comfortable it makes you feel. Yes. It is all about you and your feelings. Why let the truth make you feel uncomfortable, choose life that matches your comfort zone. Creeping Michael Rubens Bloomberg.
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:15amAnother pro lifer:
The Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia reports that a shocking question was asked at a town hall event held by Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) on Tuesday. According to the article, an audience member asked the congressman, “Who is going to shoot Obama?”
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 1:18pm@ dawg of dawg
Report Post »I can tell from your comments that your head is fill with things a dog would not eat and a cat would want to cover up. Some where in your past life someone filled your head with buzzard vomit.
Contrarian51
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:12amSome truths are more offensive than others.
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:20amHere’s one: reform Jews are like radical Muslims.
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:25amHaven’t caught any Jews trying to blow me up recently but thanks for the heads-up, useless as it is.
Report Post »TennBill
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:08amWhere is Bill Cosby? He has been saying for years that the African American population needs to take responsibility for their actions. But Big Al says that they need to be protected from reality.
Report Post »LadyLibertykicksASS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:06amRev. Al……you are a Hypocrite……You will stand in front of God soon old man, how will you spin it.!
Report Post »Do you really think GOD is going to let you get away with what you have allowed and tried to justify. Let me remind youof what he said. “Better a man be thrown into the sea with a Millstone tied around his neck, than to harm a hair on the head of one of my little ones” .
texasfarmer
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:06amI find Obama offensive.
Report Post »spreadcommonsensenot pc
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:05amSomeone here just isnt right in the head!!!!
Report Post »Scorchem
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:01amThe unsafest place for a child is in the womb. As long as abortion exists you could redo the sign and represent every nationality. The point al, was the child. Sorry you intentionally missed it and went directly for the race card. You should have applauded the thought.
Report Post »gs425
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:00amBad decision. When you give into radicals, they’ll push further the next time.
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:47amTruth has no agenda. Unlike “Rev” Al Sharpton.
Report Post »Ben
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:44amLife Always is run by a black man! Why doesn’t anyone report that? They act as if this is a bunch of white people attacking African-Americans. No, it’s the truth.
Report Post »Toodumtu
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:34amWell ya might know old Flappin Lips Sharpton would be involved. It‘s a wonder he ain’t goin ahead and protestin, even tho they took it down.
Report Post »LadyLibertykicksASS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:09amHe is still trying to justify his existance….he’s a hypocrite and God will deal with him acccordingly.
Report Post »Tomr
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:34amAny decision that Al Sharpton praises, I have to question.
Report Post »borismolly
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:20amOnce again, the left attacks freedom of speech. They don’t want debate.
Report Post »MaggieRose
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:19amnext time, just put up a bar graph showing stats of abortions
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:42amEh, abortion is an issue that I would not recommend dehumanizing. Do you not see the danger in doing so? There are plenty of black writers who can be found on the Internet challenging the decades long attack of abortion on black communities. This problem is a humam one, not just a numbers game. That’s what seperates the voices of concern from an apologist like Sharpton.
Report Post »What do you think would have been more effective? Handing out pamphlets with statistics after WWII or making German citizens tour death camps.
Ialmostforgot
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:05amThe truth has no agenda!
Report Post »Conserving Ink
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:00amEvery time some slob saves some cat out of a tree he gets his name in the paper and 15 minutes of fame on the local news. This girl’s face has the potential to save hundreds of children from being extinguished like used cigarettes and her mother is angry?
Report Post »______________________________________________________
http://conserving-ink.blogspot.com/
Psychosis
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:53amits a shame, but until they are ready to realize they have been duped, this will continue
hopefully more of them wake up to the systematic culling of their prodigy
Report Post »icediva
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:39amYea the truth hurts sometimes. Denial is a defense therefore give them time, I‘m sure if the race mongers don’t spin maybe some will become enlightened.
Report Post »DRSAVAGE24
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:32amNo kidding. The truth hurts so it must be censored.
Report Post »Tomfang
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:32amThe truth always offends. Maybe this will at least get the community talking about it. I think they also should have put the 60% statistic on the billboard.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:59amI can’t believe those statistics – they are terrible!! http://wp.me/pYLB7-HB
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:25pmAnd somewhere in the afterlife, Margaret Sanger is laughing herself to death.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:30amMaybe there needs to be a little “shame” spread around, no matter what color you are. Maybe that’s the key, they should have had children of many colors and that would have been a “politically correct” billboard.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:54amAgreed.
Report Post »wildjoker5
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:33amShame? is there really any shame in the main stream culture of blacks? Pants around their knees, music that degrades women and cops and people from 2 blocks down the street. There is no shame so they try to keep anything that may shine the light on their actions that are shameful. Life without consequences is the motis oporandi.
Report Post »greggor
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:27amThey are “outraged” because it is an ACCURATE portrayal of the black community. How sick.
Report Post »As for the ad agency which pulled the sign.. I think that was the wrong move. In advertising, even bad publicity is good publicity.
Young black women need to be reminded of what they are doing. All of us, do.
bullcrapbuster
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 12:34pmAl Sharpton is a disgrace to any race. A self serving phoney who empowers himself by agitating the ignorant.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:23amThe billboard “depicted black women in an unfair way.” ????????????
Report Post »Statistics are unfair? Those darn lying numbers!
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:53amThe only representation I see as unfair among the african american community is radicals like Al Sharpton who constantly seek to keep them down and feel alienated from society as a whole; many small business owners I know of are african american success stories, and are often critical of Sharpton and his racist and bigoted views of the world.
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:59am“Disgusting”??? I think pulling live little babies apart inside their mommies, or stabbing one of these little ones in the back of the skull, and sucking their little live brains out is disgusting…
Report Post »Anti-abortion = PRO-LIFE. “Choice” = PRO-DEATH!
wildjoker5
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:19amNot like white people were forcing black women to get abortions, it was their progative. But telling the truth must be racist in Sharptons eyes.
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:54am“depicted black women in an unfair way”………….You mean by telling the ferakin’ truth Al??????? The facts are absolutely, incontrovertibly accurate about more black children being extinguished by abortion than, violent crimes, cancer, heart disease, accidents, and AIDS combined. And need we forget the man heading up the pro-life group is black. The only race peddler I see in either story is AL SHARPTON !!!!!!!! Free speech is apparently only free when people don’t want to hear truth because it convicts them about what is really going on. What a society, we are worried that somehow this billboard might offend some people and we could careless about all the children that are slaughtered in the womb……..Now at around 50,000,000 in this country alone.
Report Post »Scorchem
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:54amThe Rev gets to define unfair? What would he know from his seat on MLK’s back?
Report Post »JoeyBagaDonuts
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 8:56amI used to question the existence of Hell. But the older I get the more I realize there has to be a special place for these smug people who condone the murder of the most innocent. Especially the ones who disguise themselves as Reverends while they assist the devil with his slaughter of the unborn.
Report Post »Blackhawk1
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:09amLike my Irish Grandfather used to say..”You’ll smoke a turd in purgatory for that one” relating to Pro-abortionists.
Report Post »AzDebi
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:09amDon’t you remember when Bill Cosby was out speaking about this very issue (as well as so many other problems that plague the Black communities)….(I hate using the term Afro-American…we are ALL AMERICANS…they are BLACK…) just sayin’…
Report Post »AzDebi
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:11amAs ALWAYS…the “silent majority” was still SILENT! Too bad…I loved the billboard…the truth hurts!
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:13amOnce I read “old Al” was behind this I knew it was “shady”. PC is killing this country and the people that follow it. I believe all that PC is, is putting “man made love” above the true love of God. Sounds so nice… but it is “one sided” and does not go both ways. This is Marxism to the core.
Report Post »VerySeniorCitizen
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:24amIn WHAT future year will people actually believe in the Constitution that you guys always seem to quote for your own benefit really means what it says??.
Article 1V – Section 2.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the several States.
That statement DOES NOT say that ONLY white citizens are entitled to said Privileges and Immunities – when the law allows something you don’t agree with?
If this billboard is OK for an anti abortion message , then why not show an Asian, a White European, a Chinese (where ONLY one child per family is allowed and all others MUST be aborted – or killed at birth), an American Indian, etc..
I’m white – and completely offended by the billboard for two reasons.
1. It suggests that ‘blacks’ are NOT entitled to use (as Scalia suggests) settled law.
2. It suggests that ONLY black women are subjected to an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
3.
Report Post »LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:31am@ AzDebi… i think the term “Afro-American” came along after the Civil Rights Movement.
Report Post »a much better word then the word they use to call Blacks.
After all, a little further back in History it was common to here folks called ….
Irish.Polish,Italian, German, ect. Americans
and they all had their own little communities, and customs. Heck they even had their own clubs
LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:32am……sorry about the spelling … i need another cup of Joe
Report Post »wildjoker5
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:50am@VerySeniorCitizen
What are you talking about? This billboard was for the HIGHEST abortion rate race in America. The notion that Chinese in America are still subject to the 1 kid rule is just plain ignorant. This billboard was to educate about planned parenthoods origional establishment and on going work of Margret Sanger to eradicate the “less desirables.”
***1. It suggests that ‘blacks’ are NOT entitled to use (as Scalia suggests) settled law.****
Not in the slightest, it says an acurate FACT that more black die from abortion than die from the top 5 cause of death by a ratio of 2:1.
***2. It suggests that ONLY black women are subjected to an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.***
Again, WRONG. Back to the last answer, it is more dangerous to be a black baby in the womb than after you are born. The billboard makes no accusations of what you read into it, NONE.
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 9:56amFor the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. That time is NOW !!!!!!
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:01amhey VERYSENIORDOOFUS……..Because the message was emphasizing the facts about black women being the most effected community by abortion you fact dodger. Wow your all inclusiveness and “fruit cake land” ideas have warped your thinking. You don’t even make sense with regard to the facts of this story. Maybe you just better go back to bed. Your reasoning is really warped. Your comments are your own worst enemy.
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:05amI find VERYSENIORDOOFUS very very hypocritical on the one hand tries to argue for black people’s rights under the law but seems to car less about the disproportionate number of children aborted in this country is black. I am sure are incoherent friend is probably all up in arms about how black men disproportionately populate our prisons. He is simply an inconsistent ******* whose fuzzy wuzzy ideas about fairness and social justice leads him down the farcical road of error (the only thing he is consistent in)
Report Post »LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:14am“The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.”
How dose this statement help stop Abortions ?
how about .. “”A Man has no RIGHTS when it comes to Abortions and this needs to change !! ”
Report Post »15 years ago i wish i had those RIGHTS ! And I almost lost my Mind !
LOOKING_BOTH_WAYS
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:20amOOOOPS …. my comment was unclear
i meant to say i didn’t have a CHOICE !!
well at lease i have one child …It would have been nice to have another
Report Post »mck05002
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:33amI have a daughter and I’m pregnant with my second child. I just can’t understand how you can abort a baby. I don’t understand how selfish you have to be? Maybe how desperate? I actually just felt my baby move yesterday and it was such an exciting moment. I think pregnancy is such a miracle and to destroy it is horrible.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 10:42amSomething tells me no one posting on this thread is black.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 12:44pmDid Al have hid brain sucked out before he was born? Is he a living miscarriage?
Report Post »copper
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 1:51pmWhat they fail to remember is that Margaret Sanger started Planned Parenthood to purge the ghetto of what SHE DEEMED an undesirable and polluting race. They just don’t get it that Planned Parenthood has them hoodwinked into exterminating their own race. It’s so sad, they are being herded and used. They have made themselves slaves and sold themselves out for welfare.
Just as they could not grasp that affirmative action was really an affront and demeaning. Ben Carson’s (Gifted Hands) mom only went to the third grade but she gave her sons the hope and drive to achieve. Ben Carson is the BEST Pediatric Neurosurgeon in the world. His older brother became an engineer. See the movie in which Cuba Gooding played Ben, it’s very inspiring.
Report Post »duce023
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 2:25pmMy eyes bleed every time Al Sharpton speaks…He could care less about statistics, his life is a lie and his followers are ignorant blind sheep. There is no other explanation for such stupidity.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 2:28pmHalf of NYC black pregnancies end in abortion, therefore it’s fair to say NYC will gain tax revenue by decreasing abortions by having more Tax payees. God said go out and populate the earth. Muslims have a higher population rate than anyother people group.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 3:28pmthe stats are only offensive if they are aimed at BLACK or LATINO women.. don’t you know that?? EVEN if the facts prove to be true discredit..
Report Post »watchtheotherhand
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 4:03pm@ JZS………what does being black have to do with the facts of this story…..The man heading the pro-life group that put up the ad was black !!!! I bet no one posting on this story has been aborted #@*%$% ……..Gotcha there huh. That was really beneath your reasoning abilities JZS. I am disappointed with race baiting, especially when there hasn’t been any. And especially when people are trying to eliminate a scourge on black communities.
Report Post »4areason
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 4:45pmThe truth has no agenda.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on February 25, 2011 at 7:14pmPublic Safety?
Now saving a childs life can’t be advertised because of concerns of Public Safety? Jerks!
http://www.americasteapartynews.com
Report Post »jzs
Posted on February 26, 2011 at 11:44amOtherhand, the lead-in to the thread was about how some blacks were offended by a billboard, followed by a bunch of white folks explaining why they shouldn’t be offended.
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