Pro-life billboards in West Kelowna, British Columbia, are scheduled to come down at the end of their contract following a fight with pro-abortion activists. The billboards—which state, “All lives are precious”—were purchased from B.C. Billboards by the Kelowna Right to Life Society and stand along Route 97, just 120 miles north of the American-Canadian border.
When Sophie Harms, a local pro-abortion activist, tried to purchase the billboards to use for her own messaging, B.C. Billboards said they would no longer host billboards either supporting or denouncing abortion.
Harms also approached Pattison Outdoor Advertising, but they also refused her request for billboards that would have claimed abortion is “safe, common, and normal.” The B.C. Humanist Association offered Harms legal support in her petition to buy pro-abortion billboards. While neither company agreed to her demands for billboards, B.C. Billboards eventually emailed the B.C. Humanist Association saying they would no longer advertise pro-life or pro-choice boards.
Kelowna Right to Life has used the billboards to affirm the sanctity of life for years, in a country where abortion is almost completely unrestricted. Although laws and clinic regulations vary from province to province, abortion is largely legal and available through 24 weeks’ gestation. The American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs now affirm that viability may be as early as 22 weeks with appropriate medical care.
Marlon Bantram, a spokesperson for Kelowna Right to Life, told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that they plan to seek clarity on B.C. Billboards’ new policy. “We think that having a public debate on a difficult issue like this is important. All sides ought to put forth their arguments and positions, and may the best ones win in the end,” he said.
Kelowna Right to Life is a member of LifeCanada National, an organization that has expanded their mission to advocate for the sanctity of life at the end of life, too, after assisted suicide—often referred to by the euphemism MAiD, or medical assistance in dying—gained popularity in Canada. The practice has been legal in the country since 2016. More than 15,000 Canadians have died through assisted suicide since 2023.
