Pro-Choice Poster Campaign Targets Bishops

A pro-choice multi-denominational group has begun a poster campaign in Washington, D.C., that accuses bishops of letting people die because of the Catholic Church's policy against condoms. The 9,000-member Catholics for Free-Choice has spent more than $250,000 on poster ads in Metro subways and bus stops in the District. Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for Free Choice, which is not affiliated with the Catholic Church or recognized by the US Conference of Bishops, said, "We wanted to shame the bishops into some public exposure because of the way in which their policy has not helped the AIDS crisis."

"The campaign is defamatory," said the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, a Catholic pro-life, pro-family non-profit. "The bishops teach; they do not ban."

Some local Catholics and the Archdiocese of Washington argued that the church is one of the largest AIDS-related care providers in the world. The Catholic Church opposes artificial means of birth control, including condoms, and says the best prevention of AIDS is abstinence.

Metro spokesperson Ray Feldmann said the transit authority accepted the ads because they were not deemed to be pornographic or visually offensive to the general public. Metro had received 24 complaints about the ads, he said.

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