Paul's Internet Landfill/ 2019/ Pro Choice, Pro Life

Pro Choice, Pro Life

I was on a bike ride this summer when I saw the following billboard:

Smile! Your
MOM CHOSE LIFE

My photo of the billboard is not great (surprise, surprise) but it reads: "Smile! Your mom chose life. Life Choices Centre". Actually, according to the capitalization on the sign it actually reads: "Smile! Your MOM CHOSE LIFE LIFE CHOICES CENTRE", but that comes across as shouty.

At first I dismissed this as another anti-abortion billboard (like the infamous "Execution at 3pm by Mother's Consent" one you see going towards Stratford), but if you think about what the billboard is actually saying then things get more nuanced. The billboard is asserting that (a) your mom had a choice and (b) your mom decided to birth you anyways. At the very least, the billboard acknowledges that abortion is legal. Going a bit farther, one might interpret this billboard to say that women should be able to choose abortion if they want, even though it would make us smile if they didn't. That is fascinating to me. It would be even more fascinating if this "Life Choices Centre" really did advocate choices for pregnant women, but I have my doubts.

(Note that the billboard is also making a factual claim -- namely that your mom actually did choose to have you. I probably don't know your mom so I do not know whether that is true. This is a highly relevant point for some people but it does not play much in my argument here.)