Radio Station Pulls Pro-Life Ad Calling For Defunding of Planned Parenthood
A major news talk radio station in Washington, D.C., has pulled a pro-life group's advertisement directed at Planned Parenthood.
Susan B. Anthony List launched the $500,000 radio and digital ad campaign that urges Congress to strip the abortion provider of millions of dollars in federal funding.
WTOP, one of D.C.'s top news talk radio stations pulled the ad Thursday after it received complaints from listeners, according to SBA List.
"Susan B. Anthony List has learned from Washington, D.C. radio station WTOP that it will discontinue airing our paid advertisement regarding taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood," SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told The Christian Post.
"This regrettable response to our radio spot on one of the lead topics in the current national debate is shameful for a First Amendment institution like WTOP."
In an email to the Christian Post, WTOP senior vice president and general manager Joel Oxley said the ad was pulled because SBA List failed to change the wording of the ad.
The transcript of the radio ad states:
"It's a fact: Planned Parenthood is America's largest abortion business. ...nearly a million abortions in the last three years. Its executives were caught on tape bragging about selling baby body parts. Under federal investigation, Planned Parenthood spent thirty million last election on political activism, not women's healthcare. It's time for Congress to act. It's time to redirect Planned Parenthood's funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive healthcare to women, not abortions. Paid for by Susan B. Anthony List."
"In this instance, WTOP asked Susan B. Anthony List to change one word in its copy," Oxley wrote. "Over two-thirds of the campaign aired on WTOP, but as the campaign ran it was felt internally that because the ad was presented as 'fact' that it made sense to ask SBA List to change the word 'bragging' to 'discussing," he wrote.
Mallory Quigley, SBA List communications director said the station did not take issue with their word choice, but rather the campaign's entire message.
"Those who complained had a problem with the whole ad and the truth we are trying to expose, not just the one word," Quigley wrote. "I get that they're uncomfortable with the facts. It is horrific that Planned Parenthood employees were discussing, indeed, bragging, about their role harvesting and selling body parts. That should make all of America uncomfortable with the fact that we're sending them $1.5 million a day in taxpayer dollars."
