The billboard has been up on Highway 97 for over a year.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kelowna Right to Life Society
June 15, 2019 - 9:00 AM
WEST KELOWNA - An anti-abortion billboard in West Kelowna is being taken down after a decision by Ad Standards Canada.
Marlon Bartram, executive director with the Kelowna Right to Life Society, said the group's billboard, which has been up for over a year in West Kelowna, violated two sections of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards— Accuracy and clarity and unacceptable depictions and portrayals. Ad Standards claimed the billboard denigrated women and misinformed the public by suggesting late-term abortions are common in Canada.
The sign, stationed near the intersection of Highway 97 South and Grizzly Road in West Kelowna, shows a pregnant woman next to a newborn baby adjacent to the text "Our right to life does not depend on our location."
Bartram said the sign didn't explicitly make any claims about late-term abortions.
Bartram said Right to Life appealed the decision, but they lost. Bartram said Ad Standards doesn't have the power of law to take the billboard down, but he said their orders are usually followed. Bartram expects BCbillboards.ca, which owns the space for the Right to Life sign, will take it down sometime next week.
"If we had it our way, we wouldn't take it down," he said.
Bartram said Right to Life is exploring their options to put up a new billboard in the future.
"We're not going to lie down," he said. "We'll keep voicing our thoughts."
To contact a reporter for this story, email Sean Mott or call (250) 864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019