MINNEAPOLIS — Two of the Twin Cities area's largest advertising firms seem intent on silencing the message of the pro-life organization Silent No More, say their critics.

The firms have rejected a pro-life advertisement by National Silent No More Awareness Campaign because it contains the word “abortion.” But one of the firms has accepted a pro-abortion ad even though it uses the word.

Early in the year, Ann Marie Cosgrove, director of Silent No More Minnesota, approached Clear Channel Communications and Lamar Advertising with a National Silent No More Awareness Campaign ad. The ad features a photograph of actress Jennifer O'Neal and reads: “I regret my abortion. If you do too, there's help” and directs callers to a 24-hour help line offered by Heartbeat International.

Both Clear Channel and Lamar rejected the ad, citing its use of the word abortion.

On Feb. 24, Cosgrove received an e-mail from Clear Channel sales representative Julie Schlosser. In it, Schlosser said, “I've finally had the opportunity to show your design to our general manager, and unfortunately we cannot accept it. As you know, anything dealing with abortion is very sensitive, and since you actually use the word, we need to decline.”

She received a similar response from Lamar Advertising sales representative Liz Scott, who suggested that perhaps the message could be rewritten.

But Cosgrove points out that Clear Channel recently put up a pro-abortion ad using the word “abortion.”

At the end of March the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice unveiled its pro-abortion billboard in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.

It states: “Abortion is a decision between a woman and her God. Pro-faith, pro-family, pro-choice” and announces the date for the April 25 March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. The billboard was to remain up for a month.

The Silent No More billboard already appears in approximately 20 locations nationwide, including California, Michigan, Montana, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin. In fact, in Wisconsin, the billboard sponsored by the Knights of Columbus is directly above the Madison Planned Parenthood office.

Rev. Dr. Nadean Bishop, executive director of the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, told the Register his group had experienced no difficulties in having the ad placed through Clear Channel. Marjorie Signer, director of communications for the coalition, concurred.

The ad is part of a campaign by the Washington, D.C.-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. The billboards are up in eight states.

“People like these ads and feel they are important and needed,” Signer said.

‘No Free Speech’

According to Clear Channel, policies regarding advertising are left up to managers in 50 divisions across the country.

“General managers decide what is appropriate for their local communities,” said Tony Alwin, senior vice president for creative, marketing and public relations for Clear Channel. “That's where they live and that's where their business is.” Alwin added that they have no written policy regarding issues-based advertising.

“You're not entitled to freedom of speech from a private business,” said Lee Ann Muller, president and general manager for Clear Channel Outdoor Minneapolis. “Decisions are made by me at the market level. We have a right to look at a message and how it is formatted for public display and whether it is a message that will be offensive to the public.”

The company's decision to deny an ad “never deals with whether we agree with their message or not,” she said, “but rather if the graphics or copy are inflammatory.”

Despite the e-mail from the sales representative, when asked about the Silent No More ad Muller said she did not recall the ad.

“That's not a campaign I'm familiar with,” Muller said. “I don't know who turned that down.”

Pro-life supporters have reacted strongly to the unfairness and the inability to get their message across through paid advertising.

“I'm sick and tired of not having an equal voice,” Cosgrove said. “It's not right what they did.”

Cosgrove has approached the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Thomas More Law Center for legal assistance regarding the ad. She thinks she is entitled to ad space from Clear Channel in the very same place where the pro-abortion ads appear.

Other Markets

Meanwhile, Oregon Right to Life has had no difficulty in purchasing the very same ads through Clear Channel. The Phoenix-based media company oversees approximately 150,000 billboard, airport, mall and taxi displays.

“We've had no problem placing the ads here,” said Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life. “A decision like the one in Minneapolis is an outrage.”

Another pro-life billboard pioneer, Mary Ann Kuharski, is no stranger to the billboard battle.

Kuharski serves as executive director for Pro-Life Across America, an organization committed to featuring babies and a positive pro-life message on billboards. Kuharski put up her first in 1990. Today, the organization spends more than $700,000 annually sponsoring more than 3,000 ads in 33 states.

Early on, some companies refused her advertising, Kuharski said. “They don't care if you're educational,” she said. “You're political in their eyes.”

She sometimes still has difficulty finding companies willing to run her ads. But she commented that “money is a powerful force.”

“Eventually these companies see that their competitors are getting all of this advertising,” she said.

Kuharski explained that economies of scale can also work to derail potential ads.

“Some companies don't want to fool around with one to two billboards when they can do all of Coca-Cola's and get hundreds of thousands of dollars promised to them,” she said. She has confronted such problems in California.

Clear Channel's Muller admitted this is sometimes the case.

“The smaller the program, the more the work,” Muller said. She said a typical program purchases anywhere between one and 10 ads oftentimes in as many as 40 different locations.

If that is what is hindering the Minneapolis ad, the National Silent No More office has said it has no problem helping Cosgrove finance more than one ad.

“We would be happy to help Ann Marie purchase a second ad,” said Georgette Forney, co-founder of Silent No More and president of Noel, an Episcopalian pro-life organization. “Our mission is to get the message out there.”

Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.