A Dangerous Ad?

Leave it to New York City to have one of the most provocative advertisements of the past few years at least. The new billboard located in the city's SoHo section is 3 stories high and attempts to serve pro-life interests in a very controversial way. It is an anti-abortion ad, a simple one that contains only a picture of an adorable African American girl, and, just over her head, a message that reads: "The Most Dangerous Place for An African American is the Womb." Wow. That was my first reaction to this. Bold? Yes. Attention getting? Yes. Offensive? In the opinion of most, yes. While the group responsible for this billboard, a pro-life organization called Life Always, claims that they were attempting to draw attention to the fact that services like Planned Parenthood often target minorities, this explanation has not satisfied much of anyone. Public advocates and residents of the area alike have called the ad "racially insensitive" and demanded that it be taken down. What does this ad really say? Whether they meant to or not, the people at Life Always have made themselves to look, frankly, racist. However, I have to give them a little credit. They created an ad that got people talking. People may not have known about the pro-life organization before they saw this billboard, but they definitely do now.