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“The fact that they are displayed on public property is galling,” they write.

The city requires ads to conform to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, which says an ad must not be misleading in any way.

McKenney believes the ad is entirely dishonest.

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“It asks women who are pregnant if they need help to call a certain number. And that would imply that they will help you and that implies counselling,” she said. “Our argument here is that this ad is in fact not truthful.”

Pattison Outdoor Advertising, which sells the ad, declined to comment.

Louise Harbour, executive director of Action Life, said she is confused as to why the councillors object to the ad.

“We have not presented ourselves as a counselling service or as a pregnancy support service which is why we don’t use our own telephone number,” she said. “We direct women to where they can find help at this national help line number. And we’ve used that number for many, many years.”

The 24-hour helpline number belongs to the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Winnipeg. The centre openly takes an anti-abortion stance, but claims not to pressure women to carry a pregnancy to full-term.

Photo by Danika Sabourin on Facebook

The centre’s number was also used in a similar OC Transpo bus ad by Action Life in 2016, which provoked outrage on social media. The 2016 ad read “Abortion stops a beating heart,” and provided the same number and website to contact.

The tagline has been changed to mark 50 years of legal abortion in Canada, Harbour said. “So this is twofold. I’m not sure how many Canadians are aware of abortion law in Canada and how long it’s been available. And we also wanted women to have the information. We believe women have the right to know that pregnancy and support centres exist in Canada and I don’t see why anybody would object to them.”