Talk about getting revenge on an ex.
Apparently a man was angry with his ex and purchased a billboard that said, “This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!"
As you can imagine the girlfriend is suing over privacy rights and her friends are claiming that she had a miscarriage not an abortion but that it is nobody’s business but her own. His lawyers are claiming First Amendment Rights, that this man has the right to express himself anyway he likes no matter how offensive to some.
I wonder how the courts will rule though when his rights clearly violate hers.
But then again, there is no personal information about the mother on the sign. No name, address, or any other information to identify her unless you knew this guy and knew who he was dating.
As an aside it appears that The Coalition About Needed Information is only present on Facebook. I can’t tell too much about it but the posts seem to indicate that this man may have started it and is now going to take it down saying the billboard was the coalition’s first and last act.
It would seem that he works at or owns GEFNET, a computer sales company, who sponsored the billboard, which to me might be a misuse of company funds. I don’t know enough about the law to know for sure.
Anyhow, I was amazed and continue to be amazed at the ways people find to hurt, embarrass, harass, or outright destroy another person’s reputation. Whether the courts rule in his favor or not it sure seems wrong to me.
Associated Press, . "Jilted ex-boyfriend puts up abortion billboard." Yahoo News. N.p.,
Jun 7, 2011. Web. 8 Jun 2011.
I also saw this article and almost wrote about it this week.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, it appears to be a normal pro-life billboard that anyone could find in America (minus the attractive model *ahem*) and I would not consider this violating anyone's rights. Nevertheless, his intentions are questionable and the girlfriend was clearly affronted by such an attack.
It does bring up some interesting issues regarding the freedom of speech. Are you free to say anything? If I bought out a billboard could I post anything as long as it was not offensive? Of course, then again, I have seen plenty of strip-club billboards that I may deem offensive.
It is a confusing issue, but (even though I am pro-life), I am going to have to side with the girlfriend. He was clearly trying to hurt and that is unacceptable.
When I took a closer look at Father’s Rights I found that they are, as of now, aimed at equal rights for custody and care. There was no mention of Father’s rights in relation to an abortion case.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that a case could be made for precedent but I don’t think it would fly. The courts have already ruled that a woman has the right to do with her body as she pleases. Even a pro life advocate like me doesn’t feel that she should be forced to carry a child to term because the Father wants the baby. That’s kind of like slavery. He doesn’t “own” her body.
I can see where the father might be upset over this, but I do think he went a little overboard in his reaction. Depending on the community in which they live that billboard could very well just as bad as if he had put his girlfriends picture and name on it.
ReplyDeleteI considered writing about this too and after doing some digging, it appears to me that the intention was more malicious that voicing his rights as a father. One of the articles in Time pointed out that he changed the name of his 'organization' and that the original name (National Association for Needed Information or N.A.N.I) was his ex-girlfriends first name. There was also an article on new.gather.com that shows his Twitter account with some pretty disturbing posts.
ReplyDeleteNow, I am all for freedom of speech, but I think that he took it a step too far. There are several avenues for expression available to him and ways he could have voiced his beliefs about father's rights that would not have brought her into the situation. Like I said earlier, this seems more malicious and I think that it violates her privacy.
Time article: http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/07/a-dumped-boyfriend-gets-even-with-an-abortion-billboard/
New.gather.com post: http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979418806
I also saw this article and immediately thought of this class. It is interesting because it really shows the problem of defending 1st amendment rights when it comes to violating another person's rights. No, he did not put her personal information on the ad, but he DID put his face, so it could easily be associated with the woman by anyone who knew they were dating. Also, he says she got an abortion, while others say she had a miscarriage. To me, that also makes a big difference. I have a hard time defending him and his first amendment rights when it so obviously is meant to cause harm to his ex.
ReplyDeleteSort of along these lines it makes me think about the infamous sex tapes that get leaked about celebs. You constantly see celebs taking people to court over those and often they win. I wonder if the reasoning would be similar to that if the girlfriend were to take him to court?
It's a tough one...that's for sure. This guy definitely has so issues, and I don't agree with what he did. However, is he legally allowed to do it? If she really didn't get an abortion then it's slander. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out.
ReplyDelete