Kansas radio station (finally) OKs abortion clinic ad

Irin Carmon, @irin

12:07 PM on 08/28/2013

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Rabbi Michael Davis holds Ann Garvey during a candle light vigil for Dr. George Tiller in Old Town May 31, 2009 in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Kelly Glasscock/Getty Images)

A Kansas abortion clinic has won the right to advertise on a local Wichita Clear Channel station, after seeing its ads pulled for allegedly violating “decency standards.” Activists had been poised to rally outside Clear Channel offices and deliver a petition signed by 68,000 people protesting the decision.

“Based on a thoughtful discussion that we had with the advertiser, we believed that it made sense to take a closer look at the criteria by which we determine whether an advertisement should air,” Tony Matteo, operations manager for Clear Channel in Wichita, told the Wichita Eagle. ”While we recognize that certain advertising may stir passionate viewpoints, KZSN has determined that as a responsible broadcaster, we should use our best judgment to accept and run ads that do not violate the law or FCC standards and which are not intentionally hateful and incendiary.”

The ads do not mention abortion. One reads,

At South Wind Women’s Center, our physicians are committed to providing quality reproductive healthcare in Wichita. Each physician is board-certified in family medicine or obstetrics in gynecology. Between them, they have over 50 years of experience and dedication, ensuring women are able to ensure the care they need when they need it.

The clinic had been joined by the group Women, Action & the Media (WAM!), which said in a statement, “Everyone deserves to know where they can access safe, legal reproductive health care. The staff at South Wind risk their lives every day to provide these services in Wichita, and WAM! is proud to have stood alongside them in the fight to ensure that their message isn’t censored and that their services remain available to everyone who needs them.”

New victories on the abortion rights front are few, but the existence of the South WInd Women’s Clinic is one: It was opened in Wichita, Kan., in the same building that housed Dr. George Tiller’s clinic before he was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist. South Wind is the same clinic that local anti-abortion activists have been trying to shut down by claiming there is gun violence outside it–despite the only documented case of gun violence being the woman who shot Tiller there to express her opposition to his practice.

You can listen to the radio ads here and here.