Tel Aviv responds to anti-abortion ads with a feminist message

The ad space is handled by a private company, but the municipality responded to the anti-abortion message in its own way.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Babies (Illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Babies (Illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The Tel Aviv city hall building has a section devoted to ad space which is handled by a private company. The company chose to sell space to Efrat, an anti-abortion group that published their slogan ‘Lack of money is no reason to end a life’ next to their contact information.
As the city is obligated to present ads which are not illegal, it could not order them down. Instead it used its right to use some ads for its own needs to rebuff the message with a text that said: “About that ad you just saw? Only you can make decisions about your own body.” The new message was shared via social media on Thursday.
Abortions are legal in Israel but women who wish to get them must get the approval of a government committee, and the majority of the women applying do tend to get their consent.
The issues of birth, fertility, and the Jewish state are complex and interwoven as the Efrat foundation is motivated by the value of promoting births among the Jewish population in the country. Founded in the 1960’s by a holocaust survivor, it is meant to increase the number of Jewish people.
The first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, created an award to women who gave birth to more than 10 children.
The award was one hundred Israeli liras. When an Arab woman gave birth to her tenth child she was able to collect the award as well. The prize was abolished in 1959 with the creation of the Israeli welfare services which included child support to large families.
 


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