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A screenshot of 1st Way's current billboard on 7th Ave. The ad at its original location had to be removed.

Right around the time we went to press with the story in our July 2 issue about local pro-life billboards, the fate of the billboard on Seventh Avenue sponsored by 1st Way of Maricopa County came into question.

Apparently, lawyers for the lessor called for it to be torn down because of sudden objections to the “anti-abortion” verbiage on it. It seemed too controversial, Kay Allen, executive director of 1st Way was told, even though a six-month advertising campaign preceded the current billboard in the same spot using the same language.

Arizona Right to Life got involved asking to see the contract, but that didn’t happen before the lessor mandated immediate removal of the sign. So the sign on Seventh Avenue just outside the Planned Parenthood is gone.

1st Way contracted two billboard locations nearby instead: one in a clearing that faces northbound traffic one-and-a-half blocks past Planned Parenthood and  another two blocks south of the facility.

Allen wrote:

Our disappointment turned into increased action and commitment to cover that area with signage.  The Valley community of Pro Life folks have donated over $12,000 for the signage…