Anti-abortion billboard removed
MP Stella Creasy has been targeted by an anti-abortion billboard poster that appeared in Walthamstow, London yesterday (September 30th).
Tuesday, 01 Oct 2019 11:54 GMT
The billboard poster appeared in Stella Creasy’s constituency yesterday (September 30th). Photo: Stella Creasy (Twitter)
Clear Channel, which owns the billboards, has apologised for the advertisement after a backlash on social media.
Clear Channel UK wrote on Twitter: “We apologise for a recent billboard campaign in Walthamstow. We have removed this campaign and are reviewing our internal processes.”
The poster depicts an unborn child with the text: '9-week living fetus' created by anti-abortion group, CBR UK, alongside a link to the website ‘StopStella.com’.
The MP for Walthamstow, who is pregnant, has been criticised for her pro-choice stance by the group, which says she is “promoting human rights abuses of children in the womb”.
Creasy posted a tweet of the billboard questioning Clear Channel’s decision to put up the billboard and called for the Metropolitan Police to take note of the “harassment of women in Walthamstow”.
She later suggested Clear Channel donates the money paid for the advertisement to Abortion Support Network.
William Eccleshare, the worldwide chief executive officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, posted a response to the MP from his personal Twitter account.
It reads: “We will take no money for this ad and have taken it down. We will make a donation as you suggest. It should never have run and is absolutely unacceptable. We are reviewing our process to make sure such a mistake doesn’t happen again. Please accept my personal apologies.
“I am personally appalled by these ads and they should never have been put up. I can only apologise that a failure in our system allowed it to happen. I am so sorry. The posters were taken down as soon as possible once we were alerted.”
The Advertising Standards Authority confirmed that it had received complaints about the advert and is “carefully assessing them to determine whether there are grounds for action”.
Creasy recently tabled an amendment to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland, which was backed by a majority of MPs in July. Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act which make abortion a criminal offence, will be repealed in Northern Ireland. The law is set to change on October 22nd.
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