B.C. court orders bus company to rethink rejection of anti-abortion ads

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Appeal Court has overturned a decision by Metro Vancouver’s transit authority that refused advertising space to an anti-abortion education group on its buses.

The court says TransLink didn’t provide any meaningful reasons for its decision to reject the ads from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

A lower court judge agreed with TransLink over its use of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards in “filtering” out the advertisement.

The proposed ad contained images of a growing fetus at seven weeks and at 16 weeks, and then a red circle on a white background containing the word “gone” along with text that read: “Abortion Kills Children.” 

The judgment released Tuesday says the decision by TransLink couldn’t stand, but the three-judge panel didn’t say that TransLink must accept the advertisement on its buses.

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Instead, the court ordered TransLink to reconsider the request by the centre to purchase advertising space.

The Canadian Press