Abortion ad in the Des Moines Playhouse Playbill creates firestorm

Even by the perverted standards of the abortion movement, the ad that appeared in the Des Moines Playhouse playbill (above) was a whopper. Pulse Life Advocates went into action once it crossed our desk.

We posted the following on our social media platforms:

What an appalling ad in the Des Moines Playhouse’s Playbill! This is the season of Life and the Playhouse allows an organization to promote death, as if that was some kind of gift. Would you take a moment and share your feelings with Playhouse board president, Nick Anderson–> info@DMPlayhouse.com. Thank-you.

The post exploded, generating comments like these:

“That’s disgusting. A gift?”

“I hope the play house does not recover ANY taxpayer money and if it does it needs to stop now!”

“What has happened to the arts is so sad. Politics has made it nothing but ugly propaganda. I try not to despair and trust there will be a renaissance where beauty and creativity will reign again.”

“This sickens me-especially since my pregnant daughter and her daughter and I are supposed to attend Beauty and the Beast after celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus.”

“Disgusting!

“Unbelievable!”

“Won’t be supporting the Playhouse. Ever again.

“They had it in the Nutcracker playbill at Hoyt Sherman this weekend as well!! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it!!!”

“This is the epitome of evil. I would never patronize them, so thanks for sharing this so we can all boycott this establishment.”

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You get the idea. These are but a FEW of the responses our post generated. To read them in their entire glory, visit our Facebook page. (Be sure to FOLLOW us!)

Thanks to our prompting, you, our fellow pro-life activists, went to work, flooding the Playhouse with messages expressing displeasure at an abortion ad that equates the killing of an unborn child as a ‘gift.’ What a cynical distortion of Christmas.

This saga has a happy ending. Our efforts … and yours … bore immediate fruit. We published our post during the breakfast hour on Monday. By lunch, the Playhouse responded with this message:

Thank you so much for reaching out to The Playhouse in response to an ad you saw in our playbill.

I’m sorry that this ad affected your ability to fully enjoy the performance. That is not the function of a playbill, but rather to supplement and give more information.

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge that Huess Printing provides a service to the theatres in the region by producing a playbill that we can add information to, at no cost for printing or distribution. To cover their expenses, they sell advertising, which we don’t manage, schedule, place or receive any income.

That being said, we reached out to Heuss Printing, and this was their response: We have invoked a “policy that we will not sell political or social issues advertising in the future. The language on this ad was especially inflammatory and while we believe in freedom of speech, I think the intent of attending an arts performance is to relax, enjoy and connect and think that the potential reaction to this ad detracts from that intent for the attendees.”

On behalf of The Playhouse, I wish a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

David R. Kilpatrick

Executive Director

The Playhouse, 831 42nd St, Des Moines, IA 50312

Direct 515.974.5353

dkilpatrick@dmplayhouse.com

THIS is the reason you need to support Pulse Life Advocates financially. Individually, we don’t have clout. Collectively, we can … and HAVE made a difference. 

Pulse monitors not just the political landscape in Iowa, but the cultural landscape. When we see situations where the culture of death attempts to spread their tentacles, we’re on it.

Thanks to everyone who supported our outreach to the Des Moines Playhouse. Thanks to the Des Moines Playhouse for listening to our concerns and responding.

[Support our pro-life educational outreach with a tax-deductible year-end gift. Don’t wait. Donate today.]