Pro-family, pro-life billboards draw opposition in Texas city – LifeSite

Wed Aug 20, 2025 – 9:00 am EDTTue Aug 19, 2025 – 9:37 pm EDT
WACO, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Pro-Life Waco’s new billboards have a pro-life message with a family photo that for the first time in over 25 years of billboard outreach include a father in the picture.
The message is powerful, and the placement in the city is strategic. The double-sided billboard location is on Waco Drive (Highway 84) just east of the Brazos River at the gateway to East Waco, an area called “the black side of town” in the Jim Crow era that remains relatively poor today. One billboard side is the first visual entering East Waco and the other side is viewed leaving East Waco.
On August 11, two days after the billboard installation, I received a text from a woman demanding that I call her to discuss her objections to the billboards. I called and listened to her perspectives.
She claimed the billboards are racist because of the location in a neighborhood with so many people of color; they are harmful to children in homes without a father; they compel adults to discuss abortions with children; and they disrespect one-parent families. While she controlled her temper and did not curse, she did not want to consider my point of view.
I contacted friend and collaborator Debbie Juhlke, the CEO of the Embrace Life Initiative in Austin, Texas to get her view on the billboard clash. Her dynamic ministry focuses on helping her fellow African-American residents in the Austin area.
“The images and message on this billboard celebrate the beauty of family and highlight the importance of both mothers and fathers in a child’s life,” Juhlke responded. “For many women in crisis, the presence of a father can make the difference in the choice for life. Rather than excluding or shaming, the message invites our community to honor life, value family bonds, and consider the life-affirming choices available.”
For children who may not have both parents at home,” she continued, “seeing positive, loving images of families can be a source of encouragement and a reminder that strong, caring relationships are possible and worth striving for.”
The vision behind Pro-Life Waco’s family-themed billboards and also its yard signs came from board member Dr. Lisa Muller Muñoz.
“For years, the pro-life community has extended love and support to babies and their mothers. But what about fathers? For too long, fathers have been forgotten,” she explained. “They too suffer, often believing they have no say, no right to the life they helped create. The baby has a mother AND a father! Showing love and support for the father as well as the mother is important in encouraging unity in the decision for life for the baby they created, regardless of the circumstances. Love family, choose life!”
The family-themed yard signs and billboards were created in collaboration with Pro-Life in the Public Square, which encourages and subsidizes public square outreach nationwide.
John Pisciotta, Ph.D. is the founding executive director of Pro-Life Waco and the executive director of Pro-Life in the Public Square.