Pro-Life Waco’s new billboards have a pro-life message and a family photo that includes dad. In over 25 years of billboard outreach, this is the first time Pro-Life Waco has included father in the picture. (These billboards are 6’ x 12’.)
The message is powerful, and the placement is strategic. The double-sided billboard location is on Waco Drive just east of the Brazos River, at the gateway to East Waco. The area of East Waco was “the black side of town” in the Jim Crow era and is relatively poor today. One billboard side is the first visual entering East Waco. The other side is viewed leaving East Waco. Additionally, Waco Drive is also Highway 84, one of the main travel arteries of Central Texas.
On August 11, two days after the billboard installation, I received a text demanding a call from a woman to discuss her objections to the billboards. I called and listened to these perspectives:
While she controlled her temper and did not curse, she did not want to consider my point of view.
I contacted a friend and collaborator, Debbie Juhlke, the CEO of the Embrace Life Initiative in Austin, to get her view on the billboard clash. Her dynamic ministry focuses on helping her fellow African-American residents of the Austin area. Debbie provided her thoughts in writing, “The images and message on this billboard celebrate the beauty of family and highlight the importance of both mothers and fathers in a child’s life. For many women in crisis, the presence of a father can make the difference in the choice for life. Rather than excluding or shaming, the message invites our community to honor life, value family bonds, and consider the life-affirming choices available. For children who may not have both parents at home, seeing positive, loving images of families can be a source of encouragement and a reminder that strong, caring relationships are possible and worth striving for.”
The vision behind our family-themed yard signs and billboards comes from board member, Dr. Lisa Muller Muñoz. Dr. Lisa explains, “For years, the pro-life community has extended love and support to babies and their mothers. But what about fathers? For too long, fathers have been forgotten. They too suffer, often believing they have no say, no right to the life they helped create. The baby has a mother AND a father! Showing love and support for the father as well as the mother is important in encouraging unity in the decision for life for the baby they created, regardless of the circumstances. Love family, choose life!”
Family-themed yard signs and billboards are available from Pro-Life in the Public Square. PLPS encourages and subsidizes public square outreach nationwide. PLPS is an offspring of our local wing, Pro-Life Waco.
Here of two of the collaboration opportunities from Pro-Life in the Public Square.
1. Yard Signs for Life community campaigns. The family message is one of five designs available to pro-life and church groups. Orders of 10 to 200 signs are subsidized at $40 per sign. One design works well for a seasonal campaign at Advent and Christmas.
2. Billboards at the Edge of Town for communities where a highway runs through the heart of a small city. PLPS will provide a free family billboard vinyl tailored to your dimensions (as small as 4’ X 8’). Small billboards can be beautiful and powerful, even with a population less than 1,000, when a highway doubles as “Main Street.”
For information and orders, contact John Pisciotta, 254-644-0407 or prolifewaco@gmail.com
Image: ProLife Waco