Roundup: More, Yes MORE Billboards in Wisconsin
Pro-Life Wisconsin is starting another billboard campaign. Looks like they've got money to burn this Christmas
Only a few days after announcing a partnership to erect billboards across Milwaukee that claim abortion is a form of African American genocide, Pro-Life Wisconsin is now declaring a kinder, more gentle, festive billboard campaign for the state as well.
Via The Cap Times:
Just days after posting billboards in the city of Milwaukee equating abortions with black genocide Pro-Life Wisconsin, an organization that fights all forms of birth control and abortions, has erected two signs in La Crosse featuring ultrasound images the organization claim represent the baby Jesus in the Virgin Mary’s womb.
Placed over the fetus in the billboards is a miniature halo. “He’s on His Way. Christmas Starts with Christ,” the sign reads, linking viewers to www.churchads.net, described by a Pro-Life press release as a Christian nonprofit in England that sponsored the campaign there.
“Even without the marvels of modern ultrasound technology, far before Christ was born in a manger, He was recognized as a unique and significant individual,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, in the press release. “It makes perfect sense to fast forward biblical accounts of the baby in Mary’s womb to what Jesus would look like in modern ultrasound.”
The group sponsoring the billboards in England claim that it isn’t supposed to be an anti-abortion message, per se, but a reminder about the “reason for the season.” But few really believe them.
Via the Baptist Press:
A critic called the ad incredibly naïve. “The image is too specifically associated with pro-lifers to be seen in a benign context. They should go back to angels and cribs,” said Terry Sanderson, director of the National Secular Society, the Guardian reported in June in one of its stories about the ad.
Trustees for ChurchAds.net, the ecumenical charity behind the campaign, said the ad “is not, in any way, designed to either support or campaign against abortion.” The poster “announces the imminent birth of the Christ child in the way that many modern-day parents choose to announce the coming birth of their own child,” they said in a written statement.
A British pro-life leader, however, saw the ad as a “wonderful help in changing people’s minds in the abortion issue.”
“This is not a cluster of cells but a human person and it just happens to be the God man Jesus…. That is a very, very powerful statement that will strike a chord with the general population,” said John Smeaton of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, according to the Guardian.
Jonathan Edwards, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, commended the ad: “The picture of a scan is one of the most defining moments of a pregnancy these days — it’s full of promise and anticipation. I’m delighted to see this year’s Christmas advert and pray it will encourage many people to sit up and take note of the Christmas message.”
But is this now simply overwhelming campaigning via billboard going to help win people to the anti-abortion side, or simply annoy more and more Wisconsinites?
Jerks of the Week
Pro-Life Wisconsin
Instead of committing to a rational discussion about how to reduce unwanted pregnancies among African-American women, the radical anti-contraception, anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin (PLW) has chosen instead to sponsor 13 billboards in Milwaukee and a website chock full of misleading information. PLW’s campaign urges black women to consider adoption instead of abortion. That’s fine. But they fail to promote contraception and comprehensive sex education as additional ways to reduce unwanted pregnancies.
As for me, I’m personally considering buying all of my family and friends Wisconsin billboards as Christmas presents this year. They are obviously going for very cheap.
Mini-Roundup: The “Women Veterans Bill of Rights” passed yesterday. One right women veterans aren’t allowed? The right to chose to end a pregnancy.
December 2, 2010
- Celebrities take part in public HIV tests – Nehanda Radio
- FDA Accepts Guided Therapeutics’ Non-Invasive Cervical Cancer Scanner PMA … – Business Wire (press release)
- Reducing Death of Expectant Mothers’ Campaign in Buchanan – Liberian Daily Observer
- Catholic Church, Pope in condom controversy – Houston Baptist Collegian
- Late-term abortion doctor to start practicing in Germantown – Business Gazette
- Clinic to offer late term abortions in Montgomery County – ABC2 News
- Managing paediatric Aids – Nation Online
- Equality for women, LGBT requires militant, unified struggle – Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Boehner Hardens Anti-Choice Agenda in Next Congress – Women’s eNews
- The GOP’s New Abortion Agenda – Mother Jones
- Rwanda tackles population growth – GlobalPost
- Effects of caesarean section on maternal health in low risk nulliparous women … – 7thSpace Interactive (press release)
- No taxes should go to providers of abortion – DesMoinesRegister.com
- AIDS activists push HIV testing at FTCC event – FayObserver.com
- Boston Teens Propose More Access To Condoms, Sex Education – Medical News Today (press release)
- Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Claiming Health Reform Law Funds Abortions – Medical News Today (press release)
- House Passes ‘Women Veterans Bill Of Rights’ After Addressing Abortion Concerns – Medical News Today (press release)
- Family planning, maternal and child healthcare coverage in Negros Oriental … – Philippine Information Agency
- United in hope – MSU State News
- Dozens step, light up awareness of AIDS – Record-Searchlight
- DSHS Medicaid cut will cost state money – Bellingham Herald
- Controversies ‘should not stop’ sex education review decisions – Times of Malta
- Birth control changes for APS – KRQE
- Pro-life Groups Speak Out Against Carhart Late-Term Abortions – Patch
- AIDS still a serious health problem: WHO – Times of India
- Violation of women’s rights – Fair Lady
- RWANDA: Maternal and child health on the right track – IRINnews.org
- Weekly Pulse: Bloomberg shaking up soda pop with politics – rabble.ca (blog)
- Judge asked to disqualify himself in Prop. 8 case – Washington Post
- PHILIPPINES: Family planning “urgently needed” – IRINnews.org
- Taking off the scarlet letters – Texas A&M The Battalion
- GOP puts BadgerCare, federal health care law in the cross hairs – Madison.com
- Finances are top concern for GOP – Concord Monitor
- Tension at health department – Winston-Salem Journal
- Another Federal Judge Upholds Healthcare Reform Law – Medscape
December 1, 2010
- First Lady touches base with inmates – Sowetan
- Pro-RH lawmaker hails latest Pulse Asia survey – Manila Bulletin
- New Report: Fewer Americans Have Health Insurance – DailyFinance
- Cancer experts call for three-year Pap tests – 6minutes
- World Aids Day: Cultural divides barrier to prevention, doctor says – Chicago Sun-Times
- Late-Term Abortion Doc Brings More Controversy to Maryland – NBC Washington
- Letter: Local clinic shares the responsibility for abortions – TCPalm
- Debunking the Lie: We Need to Reduce the Need for Abortion – LifeNews.com
- Grassroots HIV Screening Offered in New York – Voice of America
- Today’s Lady News: NY Times Asks If Female Empowerment Is Killing Romance – The Frisky (blog)
- Obama speaks on World AIDS Day – USA Today
- 2012 HIV vaccine conference coming to Boston – Boston Globe (blog)
- Conn. high court hears immigrant-benefits case – San Jose Mercury News
- Mother and child health moot – Daily Times
- Government Says 41 Percent of Kurdish Women Are Circumcised – Rudaw
- Pro-Life Lawmakers Make Women Veterans Bill of Rights Abortion Neutral – LifeNews.com
- Yasmin Side Effects Lawsuit Filed in Canada – Lawyers and Settlements
- Birth control pills can help users in early stages of menopause – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Women hardest hit by HIV/AIDS – New Vision
- Activists want HIV Prevention Bill reviewed – New Vision
- Planned Parenthood Mobilizes US Youth on World AIDS Day – Common Dreams (press release)
- Family Planning As Important For Fighting Climate Change As Clean Technology … – Treehugger
- Medicaid due to cost Ind. $1.1B more over 2 years – Chicago Tribune
- Family planning no place to trim – The Spokesman Review
- Rivers records 5162 HIV positive expectant mothers in 5 yrs – Vanguard
- Latest court ruling adds to conflict over health care reform – CNN
- Watson Pharmaceuticals Makes Abortion Drug ‘ella’ Available – Christian News Wire (press release)
- British Govt Wants Easier Access to Abortion, Pro-Life Group Grumbles – LifeNews.com
- Church questions RH survey: You can’t poll morality – Inquirer.net
- Senate Republicans Legislative Block Could Affect Military Abortion Debate – LifeNews.com
- Rising HIV levels among Muslim transgender sex workers in Jakarta – The Guardian
- Observations of an AIDS Conference Virgin – Huffington Post (blog)
- Film on Mormon Church to debut Friday in Holland – Grand Haven Tribune
- Report Analyzes Global Health Funding Trends, Predicts Lower Funding Growth – Kaiser Family Foundation
- ‘We Will Not Defend Prop 8,’ Says Kamala Harris – SFist
- Female activists condemn HIV/AIDS campaign – The Zimbabwean
- Boehner’s Staff Meets With Randall Terry – Slate Magazine (blog)
- The next challenge: maternal mortality – European Voice
- World Aids Day 2010: The Pope and condoms – newjerseynewsroom.com
- Pentagon’s DADT Study: A Win for Gay Rights – FrumForum
- The Unorthodox, Dangerous and Profitable Ideas of Tea Party Nation’s Judson … – BuzzFlash (blog)
- IHA – Adolescent women’s health: when to see a doctor and what to expect – AnnArbor.com
- AIDS Case Rate of Women in D.C. Nearly 12 Times Higher Than National Rate – PRLog.Org (press release)
- FDA Voices Concerns on Use of Donated Human Milk – eMaxHealth
- Swedish law behind rise in HIV cases: experts – The Local.se
- For the Last Time, the Health-Care Law Doesn’t Fund Abortion. – Tapped (blog)
- Sexual Violence Against Girls: A Pathway for the Spread of AIDS That Must Stop – Huffington Post (blog)
- Elected Officials of California Assembly to Get First-Hand Look at Effects of … – Business Wire (press release)
- Research about Toxins’ Links to Reproductive Health – EmpowHer
- Watson Launches ella® (ulipristal acetate) Emergency Contraceptive – PR Newswire (press release)
- Curbing gender-based violence – Nation Online
- Use of human papilloma virus vaccine again at the center of controversy – Tufts Daily
- Dan O’Neill: Planet needs less hot air and fewer people – WalesOnline
- Opinion: The New Face of AIDS Is Young and Female – ReadMedia (press release)
- Hope, and Change, Ahead for Obama – AOL News
- Alaska Health Officials Plan Media Strategy To Address Spike In Gonorrhea Rates – Medical News Today (press release)
- Why Canada should protect gender identity – Globe and Mail
- South Africa: Festive Fever’ for Teens Could Have Bad Implications – AllAfrica.com
- Still: State loses in winning tax race to bottom – News-Leader.com
- Filipinos back contraception bill despite Church-poll – Arab News
- World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern – CNN International
- Keep an Aids-affected child alive and you save the future for us all – Weekend Post
- Friday’s Condom Fashion Show draws awareness to HIV and AIDS safety – Oregon Daily Emerald