Improvement of a Pro-Forced-Birth Billboard in Pittsburgh

Action report from so-called Pittsburgh, originally posted to Filler Collective.

Some time recently in the early hours, autonomous individuals improved a billboard in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The billboard promotes a pro-forced-birth (“pro-life”) message and an organization that gives false medical information to pregnant people seeking abortions. It also moralizes this normal, beneficial, and simple medical procedure at a time when people in the United States are losing legal access to their bodily autonomy. The billboard said Cherish Life, Heart Beat 18 Days from Conception and had a picture of a baby on it.

The individuals climbed the billboard and used spray paint to counter the harmful messaging. NO FORCED BIRTH was painted twice, once in white underneath the lettering and once in blue on the baby’s head.

Abortion is only one prong of reproductive justice (See https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice for more information), but it is a prong that is quickly being taken away from us. Pro-forced-birth organizations have been and continued to be allowed to operate with minimal, if any, consequences. If we are to defend and expand abortion access, and ultimately achieve full reproductive justice, those of us who value bodily autonomy must oppose these bigots through direct confrontation and sabotage. Think of them like you would white nationalists, and you’ll know what to do.

If you have some extra money, one way to help local people seeking abortions is to donate to Western PA Fund for Choice, https://www.wpafundforchoice.org/ . All money directly funds someone’s abortion!