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Abortion Billboard Trucks Cause Media Uproar, Provoke Pro-Abortion Advocate to Publicly Debate Issue

By Elizabeth O'Brien

CALGARY, August 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Less than one week after the Canada Center for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) launched its pro-life, Reproductive "Choice" Campaign (RCC), featuring massive billboards of aborted fetuses on the sides of transport trucks, the media is still going haywire over the initiative.

Following top-secret routes through the city, the trucks will be weaving through the streets of Calgary for an indefinite period of time. The images are approximately 11-meters long and display the torn-up limbs of a first trimester aborted fetus. The word "Choice" is written next to the image with a website address for more information.

The CCBR has received a variety of different responses to their initiative, including shock and anger to enthusiastic approval, by city residents. Whether or not the reactions are positive, however, the initiative has been met by an unprecedented response from major Canadian news services, several of which have reproduced the abortion truck images in their own papers.

In addition, the media stir has caused a major pro-abortion representative to participate in a public discussion of the issue. Since the abortion trucks hit the streets of Calgary, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) Executive Director Vicki Saporta has agreed to take on the subject of abortion with CCBR Executive Director Stephanie Gray. CKNW 980 Radio program, "Nightline BC" hosted by Michael Smyth will interview them from 7:05 to 7:30pm PST. Calls will also be received (To listen live tonight go to the CKNW website and hit "Listen Live": http://www.cknw.com/shows/show_nightlineBC.cfm).

The CCBR campaign has received some positive secular reports, including an August 10 column by Nigel Hannaford in the Calgary Herald. He called the billboard effort "a good thing" and described Gray as one who speaks with intellectual clarity and firm conviction, yet without abusiveness towards abortionists.

Referring to the bloody images, the article stated that it is the abortionists who harm the dignity of the unborn child, not the people who display the pictures. Hannaford concluded, "She (Stephanie Gray) is a brave young woman. And, she is right." (To read full column in the Herald: http://communities.canada.com/calgaryherald/blogs/hannaford/archive/2007/08/10/t...).

The Calgary Sun, as well as the National Post, covered the Reproductive "Choice" Campaign. In addition, the Post printed a good-sized picture of the truck and its billboard. CTV aired an image of the truck three different times, and on CTV's online video section, reporter Najuma Yagzan describes the billboard images, saying, "You can clearly distinguish a body, hands and feet."

Not all of the media coverage has been positive, however, with the local Calgary FastForward Weekly referred to it as "The Little Truck of Horrors".

Syd Smith, of the Edmonton radio station 630 CHED, interviewed Gray on August 8, and two days later she was debating Joyce Arthur on the Montreal radio station AM 940 (To listen to the recording visit the Audio Vault: http://www.940montreal.com/ Time: 10:35 a.m. on August 10).

Describing the AM 940 discussion/debate, Gray told LifeSiteNews.com that in 1999 she asked Arthur to debate U.S. pro-life speaker Scott Klusendorf, but she refused and subsequently published an article on why the pro-choice don't debate the "anti-choice."

Nevertheless, this summer the success of the abortion trucks have finally forced her to take a stand in a public debate. During the AM 940 broadcast last week, Gray noted that Arthur referred to the truck project, saying that it wasn't a way to establish debate.

Towards the end of the interview, however, Gray responded by referring to the 1999 debate invitation. She indicated that the billboards must have been effective after all, since Arthur has reversed her earlier decision and agreed to debate Gray.

Referring to the recent debate, Gray told LifeSiteNews.com, "It took putting a truck on the road for her to finally debate me. Proving that it's not ineffective, it forced her into the public square."

To contact the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR):         
Box 123, 5-8720 Macleod Trail SE                  
Calgary, AB, T2H 0M4        
Phone: 403-668-0485                   
Website: http://www.unmaskingchoice.ca

Read Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Billboard-Size Abortion Photos to be Shown throughout Canada as Trucks Take the Message to the Streets
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07080802.html

Graphic Abortion Billboard Trucks Break Through Canada's Media Blackout http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07080906.html

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