Death Threats Prompt Removal of 'Ignore Roe' Billboard in Texas

Milton Quintanilla | Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | Updated: Aug 12, 2021
Death Threats Prompt Removal of 'Ignore Roe' Billboard in Texas

Death Threats Prompt Removal of 'Ignore Roe' Billboard in Texas

A Pro-life Billboard in rural Texas was recently taken down one day after it was put up because the landowner received death threats.

Abolish Abortion Texas (AATX), a group of pro-life Christians, had designed the billboard featuring the phrase "62 million and counting," followed by the website "IgnoreRoe.com." No graphic imagery of abortions was included.

On Monday, the billboard went up outside Boyd, Texas, as a means to encourage people to "ignore" the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling on Roe v. Wade, which provided legal access to abortion nationwide.

The following day, however, the sign was removed after the landowner received "complaints" and "death threats," which "forced the advertising company to remove" it. It is unknown as to how many death threats and complaints the landowner received.

Jon Speed, the fund coordinator of the pro-life campaign, noted in a press release that the matter demonstrated "how intolerant Texas has become."

Speed, who also serves as pastor of missions and evangelism for First Baptist Church of Briar, told Faithwire that the billboard had "no graphic images" nor did it feature a "strong statement."

"It's just a website that seeks to abolish abortion in Texas," he continued. "The fact that this happened in rural Texas is not only surprising in a self-professed pro-life state, it indicates how weak that commitment is."

Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a so-called "trigger-bill" allowing the Lone Star state to strongly limit or outlaw abortion altogether if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe V. Wade.

Speed, however, expressed disbelief in Abbott and other conservative lawmakers to support his pro-life cause.

"The conservative nature of Texas is really an illusion when you can have people that call in and make those kinds of complaints and have a billboard taken down," the rural Texas preacher said in a YouTube video. "Don't be deceived by big splashes in the media about what Texas is going to say they're going to do, because if you can't even get this to stand in Texas, I don't believe it."

In 2019, Speed made headlines after he closed down his New York bookstore for a day after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law codifying access to late-term abortion in the state. Afterward, he shut the store altogether and moved to Texas.

At the present time, AATX has an online petition supporting HB3326, which would provide equal protection for all unborn children in Texas starting at fertilization. You can sign the petition here.

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Joel Sharpe


Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.



Death Threats Prompt Removal of 'Ignore Roe' Billboard in Texas