By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
SOHO — The mother of a child model used in an anti-abortion group's controversial billboard said she wants her daughter's photo off the ad, MyFox New York reported.
Tricia Fraser said that the photo of her 6-year-old daughter, Anissa, used by the Dallas-based group Life Always in a three-story billboard that says "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb" should be taken down.
"It's bad enough you're saying this about African Americans, but then you put a child with an innocent face," Fraser said to MyFox New York.
"I just want the image off of it. Use another image — just not hers," she told the tv station.
Fraser said the photo of Anissa, which shows the little girl wearing a pink dress with a bow in her hair, was taken two years ago when she took Anissa and her three siblings to a modeling agency.
She signed a release form knowing that the pictures of her children could be used as stock photos, MyFox New York reported.
A spokesperson with Life Always told MyFox New York that the photo was obtained through a stock photo agency.
The billboard, located at Sixth Avenue and Watts Street, went up earlier this week and was quickly condemned by residents and local politicians.
Leaders with the pro-life group maintained that the message was intended to bring attention to high rates of abortion within the African American community.
"We want the community to think about the impact of abortion," Pastor Stephen Broden, a leader of the church, told DNAinfo.
Regardless of the intent, Fraser said she wanted her daughter's image removed.
"I would never endorse something like that," she said to MyFox New York. "Especially not with my child's image."
