Twice in one month, a Canadian pro-life group’s billboard has been vandalized by abortion activists.
Castanet reports someone painted black swastikas all over a pro-life billboard this week in West Kelowna, Canada. The billboard, sponsored by the Kelowna Right to Life Society, shows pictures of a puppy and an unborn child at about 12 weeks gestation, along with the words: “Kill puppy: Cruelty!” and “Kill baby: ‘Choice’”
The billboard has been the subject of controversy in the community, and it was vandalized once before, according to the news report. Several people also complained about the billboard to the Advertising Standards Canada after it first went up in March, the report states.
Marlon Bartram, executive director of the pro-life group, said he sent letters to the mayors of Kelowna and West Kelowna asking them to publicly condemn the vandalism and “all acts of hatred, specifically against the pro-life and Christian communities of Kelowna.”
“As well, several comments on social media and news sites called for the illegal destruction of the board,” Bartram said. “Obviously, someone has backed up that hateful rhetoric with hateful action.”
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Here’s more from the news outlet:
During the last few months, several complaints were lodged with Advertising Standards Canada. The complaints included claims the Kelowna Right to Life Society was being dishonest in calling the fetus depicted in the ad a “baby,” as well as claims it violates a section of the Advertising Code that prohibits ads that display “unacceptable depictions and portrayals” of persons or groups.
… The society argued that while some may find the billboard offensive, “it does not directly identify nor incite displeasure or violence toward any identifiable person or group.”
In response, Advertising Standards Canada dropped the complaints and allowed the billboard to remain.
Bartram said the agency’s decision was a victory for the pro-life movement in Canada.
“The crux of our argument is that pre-born babies, like born babies, are full persons with the inherent right to life, and that abortion is an abhorrent violation of that right. This billboard has done wonders in helping us to advance these important truths,” he said in a statement.
The pro-life group plans to keep the ad running through March 2017.
Kelowna Right to Life Society describes its mission on its website: “Our great City of Kelowna ought not continue to tolerate the killing of defenseless unborn children in our own hospital. It is our duty as citizens of good conscience to speak on behalf of the voiceless, to stand for those who cannot defend themselves, and to oppose the horrific injustice of abortion scarring the women, men, and families of our community.”
Vandalism and violence against pro-lifers have become a growing problem across the U.S. and Canada. In April, LifeNews reported another pro-life billboard with the smiling face of a baby girl was vandalized in San Francisco. Pro-life billboards are vandalized fairly frequently.
Last September, Students for Life of America reported that pro-abortion students tore down their pro-life fliers at American University in Washington, D.C. and then bragged about it. Students for Life reported six pro-life student groups were censored or had their displays vandalized during the month of April 2015 alone.
Some pro-lifers even have been assaulted and threatened with rape and death by abortion activists.
