this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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101
Kelowna Companies Won’t Run Pro-Choice Billboards (thetyee.ca)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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A University of British Columbia Okanagan campus student who raised more than $3,000 for a pro-choice billboard is stumped on where to post her message.

Sophie Harms says she wants to create a billboard that says “Abortion is safe, normal and common” to counter the anti-abortion billboard messaging that peppers the Okanagan region.

Harms’ request to purchase a pro-choice billboard has now been turned down or ignored by all four billboard companies in the region.

Harms points out that though abortion has been decriminalized in Canada, there are still issues with stigma and access that prompt a need to counter anti-abortion messaging.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

She says a Pattison Outdoors sales representative was initially supportive of the idea but later said the billboard was “too controversial and they wanted to stay neutral.”

Pattison Outdoor faced publi[c] pushback after running anti-abortion ads in Alberta and Nova Scotia in 2018, Victoria in 2019 and Manitoba in 2024.

Infuriating. And a reminder that donations to politicians isn't the only way the wealthy can put their thumb on the scale wrt money in politics. One wonders whether billboard buys from certain political parties (but not others) would be, "Too controversial."

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

They just took an anti buy in 2024 after 2 other "controversial" campaigns, but won't take a pro-choice today. See if they'll take another anti and sue them if they do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Sue them for what? They are fully within their rights to run anti-abortion ads and reject pro-choice ads.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately yes, because they are a privately-owned company.

I wish the feds would enact laws that safeguarded abortion care.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

To make a point and get media attention. I know it'll go nowhere, but it'll be embarassing for them to be defending the hypocrisy.

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