Abortion ads hit T

Starting this month riders on the Orange, Red and Blue Lines will be greeted by a series of ads highlighting obstacles woman face when trying to have an abortion.

The six ads, paid for by the Abortion Access Project, feature the personal stories of women who chose to abort their pregnancies and the difficulties they encountered.

Tina Cincotti, a consultant at the AAP, said the ads are designed to dispel the stigma attached to abortion and “mobilize pro-choice Americans to get involved.”

She cited state parental consent laws in 30 states, which require minors to get permission from at least one parent before having an abortion, as a common obstacle pregnant teenagers face.

According to a 1997 Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling, minors need the consent of one parent before having an abortion. Cincotti said some women in abusive households must hide their abortions from parents to protect their safety.

Access to abortion also depends on a woman’s financial situation and provider availability, Cincotti said. According to AAP statistics, 84 percent of U.S. counties lack an abortion provider. About 33 percent of women who have abortions have incomes of less than $11,000 a year.

The ads, however, are certain to displease some riders. Pregnancy centers, instead of abortion clinics, can better help women “emotionally, psychologically, economically and spiritually,” said Patrick Reilly, the local chapter liaison at Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Pregnancy centers can even help the mother two to three years after the birth of the child, he said.

The number of abortions has declined to 1.3 million from 1.6 million in 1990, Reilly said. He attributed the drop to a decline in the number of providers and a growth in abstinence education.

Although the Citizens for Life ran ads on the T and in taxis last fall, Reilly said they are not planning a rebuttal to the Abortion Access Projects ads.

“We do not do tit for tat. … We want to bring out the humanity in the issue,” he said.