A new pro-abortion billboard from California Governor Gavin Newsom’s re-election campaign is now on display in Austin.
The advertisement shows a woman sitting with her legs bent, knees pressed against her chest, arms hugging her knees, as she raises a hand to her mouth and the words, “Need an abortion? California is ready to help.'”
The billboard, just south of Stassney Lane in South Austin, also advertises California’s abortion resources website.
“Abortion remains legal and protected in California,” he continued. “We have your back.”
The billboard also featured a Bible verse.
“Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these,” the billboard reads, quoting Mark 12:31.
It is unknown how long the billboard will be on display. According to a survey of advertising providers, costs range between $3,000 and $12,000 to display a full-billboard ad in South Austin for a period of four weeks.
This billboard marks the second time Newsom’s re-election campaign has paid for advertising in Texas concerning abortion.
In September, his campaign launched a billboard in Texas that read, “Texas doesn’t own your body. You do.”
The California governor’s campaign has paid for a total of 18 billboards located across seven different anti-abortion states—Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Oklahoma—that advertise California’s open access to abortion.
“It’s concerning to see California and its governor really engage in this type of behavior,” said Jonathan Saenz, president and attorney for the organization Texas Values.
“I think a lot of what you see from the governor of California taking aim at Texas is their frustration that a lot of people from California have moved to Texas for a better life, and so this is a desperate act on their behalf to try to somehow convince people to come back to their state,” he suggested.
Writing for the University of California Santa Barbara student newspaper The Bottom Line, Alexa Tan claimed, “Does abortion access need to be advertised the same way divorce lawyers, addiction recovery, and hair loss surgeries are? In America, the answer is yes. The fight to regain what was lost on June 24 comes down to our generation.”
In July, Newsom’s campaign also paid for advertising in three Texas newspapers—the Houston Chronicle, the El Paso Times, and the Austin-American Statesman.
The full-page advertisements criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for his anti-abortion stance and sought to blame him for recent instances of gun violence.