Obama anti-abortion ad causes anger in Chicago
Pro-choice campaigners have reacted angrily to an anti-abortion advertising campaign targeting black people with the slogan 'Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted'.
The billboard in Chicago, which is aimed at the city's black community and includes a picture of Barack Obama alongside the tagline, has been denounced as ‘despicable’ by campaigners.
The campaign was created by Texas-based pro-life group Life Always and features across 30 billboards in the Chicago area.
Life Always has said that the adverts are part of a campaign to 'encourage reflection on the disproportionate number of abortions among African Americans'.
The advert's wording and its use of Obama’s image has been heavily criticised by pro-choice campaigners, with the Chicago Abortion Fund saying in a statement: “The ongoing anti-choice movement to target women of color in cities across the country is both despicable and deplorable.
“Not only is the ad attempting to shame black women but placing a picture of the President Obama alongside the message is cynical and misleading.”
A similar billboard by Life Always in New York's SoHo was taken down last month after just one day. The ad featured the slogan: “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb”.