LOS ANGELES, California, June 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Massive pro-life billboards erected in Los Angeles this week highlight the devastating impact of abortion on the United States’ Latino population.
Similar to billboards erected in New York earlier this year drawing attention to the stratospheric African-American abortion rate, the message plastered in Los Angeles reads: “The most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb,” in Spanish and English.
Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, the group sponsoring the billboard, told the Daily Caller that Latinos are a “targeted” group.
“It’s clear that Latinos are being targeted by organizations that promote abortion, like Planned Parenthood,” he said. “Many of their clinics are in Latino neighborhoods and communities.”
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 25 percent of abortions in the U.S. are performed on the children of Hispanic women, yet persons of Hispanic or Latino origin accounted for only 16 percent of the U.S. population in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The billboards are part of a kick-off campaign for a pro-life congress on June 12 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
Called “Unidos por la Vida” (United for Life), the congress is sponsored by the pro-life Latino group Manto de Guadalupe, founded by the enormously popular singer and actor Eduardo Verástegui. The event will also feature, among others, pro-life Governor Rick Perry of Texas and Lila Rose of Live Action.
Mexican heartthrob Verástegui, known as the “Brad Pitt of Latin America,” drew the attention of the pro-life community in 2006 with his star roll in the film “Bella.”
Eduardo founded Manto de Guadalupe in 2005 as a center to provide assistance to minor pregnant women and promote adoption, while also giving shelter to impoverished families.
In January 2011, Eduardo announced plans to build largest U.S. crisis pregnancy center in California. “I will not use my talents except to elevate my Christian, pro-life and Hispanic values,” he said at the time.
The “Unidos por la Vida” congress is a fundraising event for the planned crisis pregnancy center.
For more information on the event, click here.