Billboards pushing the belief that it is morally wrong to have children are reportedly popping up all over Portland, Oregon.
Local pro-abortion activist group Stop Having Kids is precisely propagating the same message through billboards that normalize antinatalism, ChurchLeaders reported. The billboards, which specifically indicated the group's website, speak contrary to life. Besides "Stop Having Kids," a billboard read, "A lot of humans wish they were never born."
One of the billboards is specifically located at the corner of Portland's Northeast Killingsworth Street and Interstate 205, which came out on January 3, Willamette Week reported. While another came out on January 12 at the corner of Southeast Division and 106th Avenue. Both billboards convey, "Stop Having Kids" in text and an image of a fetus that was crossed out much like in a stop sign.
The "A Lot Humans Wish They Had Never Been Born" billboard was put up along Interstate 5 near Salem. According to the spokesperson of the billboard's owner, an $800 to $1,200 monthly fee is paid for a medium-sized ad on Portland's eastside.
Stop Having Kids claims that too many people experience injustice and needless suffering in the world. They deduce that minimizing and preventing new lives becomes the moral imperative to avoid such injustice and suffering. They would rather focus their energy, time, and resources on improving and caring for existing people than work for the support of new life.
"We seek a world in which people ponder the decision and question if their motives are self-focused and if birthing another human is a sound idea," Stop Having Kids said.
The organization then openly encourages people to have an abortion, saying that they should not feel shame or disgrace for doing so. They also help those who have undergone abortions already. This is out of their belief that having children is selfish, irrational, and unethical. It does not come as a surprise that the group also supports the LGBTQ+ community, particularly standing for "Gender Role Nonconformity."
The group also conducts sidewalk operations called street outreach where they promote the messages of "Normalize Antinatalism" and "Parenthood Regret Is a Silent Epidemic." The street outreach aims to talk to as many people as possible about being child-free, regretting their parents had them, and wishing they were never born.
Stop Having Kids Spokeswoman Ashley Riddle raised that they were positively received by those they had conversations with on the street. Although Willamette Week highlighted that the group's YouTube Channel was able to document several instances of confrontations experienced during the street outreach.
One incident involved a man who likened the group's advocacy to eugenics, which is controlling the desirable characteristics of a child during reproduction. Another incident involved a woman who yelled at Stop Having Kids for being "like Nazis who pretend to help others and try to make minorities not have children."
Riddle disclosed that their street outreach serves as an opportunity to expand their group. She said people often convey they would like to be a part of their group but never do.
"There's a lot of people who will reach out and say they would love to join but then a day comes and they don't show," Riddle said.
