Abortion-rights advocates are criticizing a series of antiabortion advertisements on San Francisco's BART trains for attacking Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that effectively barred state abortion bans -- the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The ads, which are funded by the Respect Life Ministry of the Oakland Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, have been posted since December 2005 and carry the tagline, "Abortion: Have we gone too far?" In one ad, "9 months" appears in large letters, accompanied by the statement: "Because of Roe v. Wade, this is the amount of time the Supreme Court says it's legal to have an abortion." According to the Chronicle, 280 ads appear in BART trains and 48 larger versions appear in the rail system's stations (Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/13).

San Francisco Reaction
Many of the ads on BART trains have been defaced, with some "torn to shreds" and others having had mini-essays written on them, according to the Chronicle. Suzanne Joi, a member of the group Code Pink, said, "I think every woman has noticed them," adding, "I couldn't believe BART would allow something like this." However, BART officials said free-speech provisions in the First Amendment prohibit the agency from choosing which ads should be displayed. "We're not in the business of censorship," BART spokesperson Linton Johnson said, adding, "It shouldn't be up to a government official to determine whose opinion is right and whose is wrong." Johnson said BART might contemplate changing its policy of allowing point-of-view advertising, but added that this could have far-reaching ramifications such as eliminating advertising during political campaigns. The San Francisco ads are scheduled to be taken down at the end of this month. However, Monika Rodman, coordinator for the group that paid for the ads, said the group is asking the ad agency CBS Outdoor for more time as compensation for the vandalism (Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/13).