Since When Is Life Offensive?

(Canadian officials pull a pro-life add from a bus stop because it's "offensive"? I wish I was joking. Abortion is a blood-reign scourge that has killed untold millions of future great men and women in our world. The defense of an abortionist is 'this is my body' - which is a satanic mockery of the words that our Savior spoke on the night he was betrayed - 'this is my body' that I give to you that you might live. Babies are torn from the womb by women who say 'this is my body' and I'm taking away your right to live.)

HAMILTON, Ontario, January 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The city of Hamilton Ontario has decided to pull a series of pro-life advertisements from its bus-shelters, saying that they were “offensive” and too “controversial.”

The ads, which are part of a nation-wide pro-life campaign coordinated by Life Canada, depict a pregnant woman. At the top of the ad are the words, “Nine months: the length of time abortion is allowed in Canada. No medical reason needed.” At the bottom is the question, “Abortion, have we gone too far?”

The ads, which include bus, transit shelter, newspaper, radio, billboard and postcard ads, are being run in dozens of cities across Canada. Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Kwlowna, British Columbia are the only other cities in the country that have refused to run the ads. Kelowna Right to Life, however, has arranged for the ad to be displayed on a large billboard overlooking a main artery running into the city.

Don Hull, the city’s director of transit, explained the city’s reasons for pulling the ads, saying “We don’t think it’s appropriate for that medium to be used for controversial community messaging.”

The Hamilton Spectator reports that the decision was made to pull the ads after Hamilton’s transit office received three complaints, and one of the ads was vandalized with pro-abortion graffiti. A city councilor, Brian McHattie, also personally submitted a request for the ads to be removed, saying that they were “offensive,” and “totally inappropriate.”

Gudrun Schultz, the executive director of LifeCanada told LifeSiteNews.com that her organization found it “disturbing” that the city would have pulled the ads based upon a mere handful of complaints.

“We find that very disturbing that that’s all it takes to remove a very innocuous pro-life ad. We’re not talking about graphic images, any of the usual complaints about pro-life ads, that they’re too visually disturbing. It’s quite a gentle image. It asks a question and states a fact.”

“I’m not clear on what part of that is so offensive that it has to be taken down,” she said. “It’s very unfortunate when a small part of the public raises an objection and effectively silences the rest of the community, that might very well be supportive of the issue. It’s important to note as well that our Life Canada poll has consistently shown that 2/3s of Canadians don’t support unrestricted abortion. 2/3s of Canadians can relate to our ad. That’s a pretty strong majority.”

Joanne Byfield, the president of Life Canada responded to the city’s decision, saying, “Councillor McHattie asked for the ads to be pulled because he says, ‘For me personally, it definitely was offensive.’ I wish he was more specific. Was it the image of the pregnant woman that so offended him? Was it the statement of fact in the ad: ‘Nine months: The length of time abortion is allowed in Canada. No medical reason needed?’ Or was it the tag line, ‘Abortion: Have we gone too far?’”

“I’d like to thank Councillor Brian McHattie and the City of Hamilton for illustrating the point we are making in our LifeCanada ad campaign…It seems it is unacceptable to him that we are allowed to pay for advertising inviting Canadians to think about alternatives. The current climate in Canada is so abortion-friendly that a politician finds it acceptable to shut down our right to question the policy.”

“We’ve definitely gone too far”.

Calls to Don Hull and Brian McHattie’s offices were not returned by press time.