Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Controversial Anti-Abortion Billboard Removed

By DNAinfo Staff on February 24, 2011 6:39pm  | Updated on February 25, 2011 6:07am

Six-year-old Anissa Fraser's mother, Tricia Fraser, said that she wants her daughter's photo off a controversial anti-abortion billboard currently on display in SoHo.
Six-year-old Anissa Fraser's mother, Tricia Fraser, said that she wants her daughter's photo off a controversial anti-abortion billboard currently on display in SoHo.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

By Elizabeth Ladzinski

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

SOHO — A controversial anti-abortion billboard in SoHo is being taken down, just days after it was put up.

The three-story billboard at Sixth Avenue and Watts Street, which was funded by the Dallas-based group Life Always read, "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb." The phrase sparked outrage from local politicians to the mother of the girl depicted in the ad.

The Lamar billboard company, which owns the billboard space, took the three-story ad down overnight Thursday.



"We thought it was in the best interest of the neighborhood to take down the ad as soon as possible," said Hal Kilshaw, a spokesman for Lamar Outdoor advertising.

He said that the general manager of the company, Peter Costanza, had concerns that violence and harrassment might come from it.

The decision to remove the ad was widely praised.

"In the few short days since this billboard was put up, countless New Yorkers responded with collective revulsion to the divisive and ugly nature of its message," Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

C. Nicole Mason, 34, executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University, said her organization had been calling and e-mailing the billboard company demanding the ad be removed.

"What the billboard does is simplify issues — it doesn't take into account that choosing to terminate a pregnancy is a difficult decision regardless of race," Mason said.

According to Life Always leader, Pastor Stephen Broden, the billboard was intended to cause a reaction.



"The black community is oblivious to what is going on with this practice," Broden, 58, said about abortion rates in the African-American community.



Tricia Fraser, the mother of Anissa Fraser, 6, who is pictured on the ad, had also asked that the ad be removed.



"It's bad enough you're saying this about African Americans, but then you put a child with an innocent face," Fraser told MyFox New York.

The billboard was supposed to stay up for three weeks. 

Representatives for Life Always did not immediately respond to calls for comment.