PROLIFE Across AMERICA has 10,450 billboards spread all over the U.S. They illustrate a joyful and crucial element of the pro-life message: happy babies telling the world what they could do before they were born.
With few words these roadway signs educate the world about life before birth.
What if those signs and the pro-life message could be featured at eye-level and travel to cities where crowds gather?
This summer, pro-life non-profit PROLIFE Across AMERICA took “its life-saving messages directly to thousands through eye-catching digital billboard trucks,” according to a recent press release.
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Positioned at premier festivals and concerts, these bright animated LED ‘mobile billboards’ traveled to offer hope to women facing an unexpected pregnancy, and connect those in need with its 24/7 hotline, reaching an estimated 200,000 attendees each day, the press release said, in addition to stopping at the local Planned Parenthood in each city.
“The digital trucks are a great solution for reaching a woman going for an abortion appointment,” Angie Johnson, president of PROLIFE Across AMERICA, told Pregnancy Help News in a phone interview. She added that the trucks provide “an eye-catching, creative method to be right where we want to be.”
They give visual facts and a positive, upbeat message about the baby growing inside a woman, and provide a way for her to reach confidential counseling, local support, and answers.
The mobile billboards work well because they can be less expensive than static billboards in some cities, Johnson said. She also pointed out that these digital ads do not have to share space with others and can be positioned most effectively.
Hope, help and life-affirming alternatives to abortion
“Festivalgoers will encounter a message they never expected to see: hope, help, and life-affirming alternatives to abortion,” Johnson, said in the press release. “We’re excited for the unique opportunity digital billboard trucks offer: to share pro-life facts with some of summer’s largest crowds. Where crowds gather our message shines!”
“Many eyes were on the trucks,” the driver of one truck reported to Johnson. “You could see people staring at the screens, sometimes pointing at them while talking. So, it was definitely creating a buzz.”
Education combats pressure to abort
Johnson affirmed that a central purpose of PROLIFE Across AMERICA is to educate.
“It has been reported that most women, about 87%, are pressured to abort,” she explained. “They don’t know the facts: the baby has a heartbeat at 22 days from conception, or that the baby has a sense of touch and can feel pain.”
Since coercion and pressure from family or others is a large factor in a woman’s decision to abort, PROLIFE Across AMERICA wants to educate anyone involved in an abortion decision about the humanity of each pre-born baby.
Option Line plays important role
People needing help or answers can respond to the billboards by calling 800-366-7773, or using the QR code displayed. PROLIFE Across AMERICA has trained staff to respond to calls.
If they are not available, the communication rolls over to Heartbeat International’s Option Line, where callers can talk confidentially to compassionate, trained staff about pregnancy options and concerns. Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally and its Option Line phones are answered live 24/7 and can connect callers to pregnancy care centers nearby.
More event stops planned
PROLIFE Across AMERICA hopes to receive more donations to keep the trucks on the road so that anyone who needs support or guidance during an unplanned pregnancy can find hope and local life-saving resources.
Johnson said a new supporter called after seeing the billboards and stated, “Wow! I was so surprised to see you in our city. Keep these going!”
LifeNews Note: Laura Roesler has a degree in English from Hamline University with a second major in nursing from St. Catherine’s, both in Saint Paul, MN. She completed volunteer training at New Life Homes and Family Services in Minnesota, coming away with knowledge about abortion and its effects surpassing what she’d gained in nursing school. Laura taught nursing assistants with the Job Corps and worked as a nursing home nurse and a school nurse. She left the workforce for several years to raise her family – she and her husband have four children, adopting their youngest daughter from Guatemala at age three. Laura was the editor of Home Health Aide Digest and later remained a contributor, and she has also had articles in Senior Perspective, The Christian Examiner and Keys for Kids (Children’s devotional). This column originally appeared at Pregnancy Help News.
