Los Angeles anti-abortion billboards targeting Latinas taken down

Created: June 17, 2011 16:58 | Last updated: July 31, 2020 00:00

Earlier this month, the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles announced it would be putting up a new anti-abortion rights billboard campaign targeting Latinas in Los Angeles. The billboard said in both English and Spanish that “the most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb.” However, due to a concerted effort among reproductive rights advocates, the billboards are coming down. #

The billboards were an almost word-for-word copy of a group of billboards from a Texas-based group called Heroic Media that targeted African-American women. Heroic Media’s billboard’s said, “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.” #

Before the campaign was even launched, reproductive rights advocates denounced the billboards, calling them “racist” and “offensive.” #

Loretta Ross, National Coordinator for SisterSong, told The Florida Independent that the billboards are a “vicious attack on Latinas.” She said the group would work to get the billboards taken down. #

The anti-abortion website Life News.com reports: #

Pro-abortion Hispanic pressure groups have been successful in getting billboard companies to take down some of the pro-life billboards a conservative Latino group purchased to appear across Los Angeles, California. #

Gabriela Valle, senior director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, is one of the pro-abortion zealots taking on the billboards and told Orange County Weekly that she believes they are racist. #

“We’re taking a strong stance against theses ads. They’re completely racist. An attack to one community is an attack to all,” she claimed. “The fact that they’re hiding behind a Latino-led organization doesn’t make the message any less racist…. They’re anti-woman. They’re anti-immigrant. This ad is just one more place for Latino communities to be attacked.” #

The left-wing Center for American Progress also aggressively attacked the ads, saying, “The billboard presumes that Latinas don’t know what’s best for themselves and their families. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the Latino community does know what is important for strong and healthy families. And contrary to conventional wisdom, Latinos are supportive of access to family planning, sex education, and a full range of reproductive health services. They are also supportive of a woman’s right to make her own decision about pregnancy and abortion.” #

“In addition to attacking Latinas’ reproductive decision making, the campaign distracts from other important issues in the Latino community, such as immigration reform, jobs, and education,” it said. #

Groups such as SisterSong have been successful in the past in getting billboards that target minorities taken down. The group was able to get billboards targeting African-American’s taken down. #

The latest slew of anti-abortion rights billboards targeting minorities are now located in Oakland. #