# Ex-BF erects billboard claiming ex-GF aborted their baby. His free speech vs her privacy rights **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 7, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595 "2011-06-07T04:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/21 "2011-06-07T08:44:30Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The billboard was a temporary reminder of what I suspect is a deed she will carry to her grave. Post-abortion syndrome is a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/22 "2011-06-07T09:00:28Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Not necessarily. They may not know whether he was involved in any other relationships besides her. Also, I know a lot of women through work, and though I know they have husbands or boyfriends, I wouldn’t recognize them by sight. I hear stories about them, but I rarely meet them. Precisely what I was going to say. How long have they been together? Were they exclusive? Has he been seen to be seeing other women before or since? He’s given no identifying information about her, about the timeframe he’s talking about, nothing. It’s a scummy thing to do, still. But Yeah. I stand by what I said upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/23 "2011-06-07T09:19:44Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Not necessarily. They may not know whether he was involved in any other relationships besides her. Also, I know a lot of women through work, and though I know they have husbands or boyfriends, I wouldn’t recognize them by sight. I hear stories about them, but I rarely meet them. Indeed. Hence my very deliberate inclusion of the word “probably”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/24 "2011-06-07T09:26:53Z")
Note to mention “quite possibly”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/25 "2011-06-07T09:47:02Z")
He’s indeed an omega-level dick, and arguably the text of the billboard is libelous since she aborted a fetus, not killed a child (though her not being identified by name renders this moot, I expect), but I gotta figure freedom of expression wins out, even in this particularly hateful instance. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/26 "2011-06-07T09:48:01Z")
I’m no doubt one of the most pro-choice people on this board (abortion-on-demand, for-no-damn-reason-whatsover, as-often-as-you-like, as-late-as-you-like kind of pro-choice) nor do I share the American fetish for free-speech-above-all (I’d come down on those Westboro cunts so hard it’d make Sodom look like a light spanking) and _yet_ I think this asshole should be allowed to be an asshole in public. I might feel different if he named or otherwise directly identified the woman, but that’s more a reckless endangerment thing, given the known non-zero tally of anti-abortionists who like shooting people for doing perfectly legal things. Certainly should not be any civil issues with it, like defamation or the like, even then. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/27 "2011-06-07T10:06:45Z")
Even if he identified her by name on the billboard I’d support his right to free speech over her right to privacy. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/28 "2011-06-07T10:36:23Z")
I think I know why he’s an ex-boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/29 "2011-06-07T11:08:21Z")
Yes, this is probably protected speech, and yes, the guy is a complete dick. And if I had to guess, the problem isn’t that she got an abortion, it’s that she didn’t do what he wanted. Oh well. Perhaps she can take out a billboard across the street from his favorite bar that says he has a tiny penis. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/30 "2011-06-07T11:25:07Z")
I wonder if this would be legal in other western countries with less stringent free speech protections? ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/31 "2011-06-07T11:59:08Z")
I can’t imagine that sort of thing being allowed in Germany, but I’m not a legal expert. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/32 "2011-06-07T12:18:24Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > He’s not going to get _casual_ sex too easily [snip] That’s for sure. Have you seen [his picture](http://alamogordonews.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=35786905&event=1242851&CategoryID=19239)? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/33 "2011-06-07T13:01:46Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I can’t help but think that is actionable as defamation. I don’t know how clear the law has been about distinguishing between fetuses and babies, and whether a suit is successful might end up resting on this. I don’t think a defamation suit would get very far but it would likely, as you mention, get thorny as all hell. If it’s true that the woman involved aborted then it can’t be defamation if he says she did. But the ‘killed our baby’ thing would almost require a court to find that the fetus is a baby and I’m figuring VERY few judges would want that can of worms dropped in their lap. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/34 "2011-06-07T14:02:53Z")
> [@gatorslap](#): > > One’s right to privacy does not extend to preventing others from telling people things you’d rather not be revealed. You have no particular right to force anyone to keep a secret. The fact that he made a point of telling a lot of people (via billboard) doesn’t really change anything. Not true. Under the common law of torts, there is a privacy action for “public disclosure of private facts,” for which truth is not a defense. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/35 "2011-06-07T14:13:58Z")
More to the point it says "…decided to Not KILL Our **Child"** , not ‘baby’. The wording could easily be construded as ‘murdered a living child’ instead of ‘aborted a developing embryo’. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/36 "2011-06-07T14:36:10Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [That billboard](http://newmexicoindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/1.jpg) is something else Split infinitive. Kill him!! ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/37 "2011-06-07T14:40:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > …And if I had to guess, the problem isn’t that she got an abortion, it’s that she didn’t do what he wanted… Exactly. It certainly appears that way. _If_ he had always been a vocal opponent of abortion, I’d have some degree of sympathy for him. It seems as if he’s compensating for his disappointment by hitching his wagon to an entity that has no choice (npi) but to back him 100%. Then again, I don’t know anything about the guy, so I shouldn’t assume anything. While retaliation of this sort isn’t fair, I’m sure some people would change their opinion if the story was that the girlfriend strung him along for a few months, getting showered with gifts and attention, pretending that they would eventually be a happy family, only to surreptitiously pull off the abortion at the last minute and drop him for a wealthy, good-looking new boyfriend. But I don’t know anything about her either, so I shouldn’t assume anything. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/38 "2011-06-07T14:59:27Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > Had he put an image or any further identifying information about her on the board, I’d be more inclined to support an order forcing it to be taken down. Well, it doesn’t identify her specifically, but based on the image of the hypothetical baby, I think we can assume that the woman is black. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/39 "2011-06-07T15:02:11Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Then again, I don’t know anything about the guy, so I shouldn’t assume anything. We know he doesn’t deal with disappointment very well. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595/40 "2011-06-07T15:07:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I don’t think a defamation suit would get very far but it would likely, as you mention, get thorny as all hell. > > If it’s true that the woman involved aborted then it can’t be defamation if he says she did. But the ‘killed our baby’ thing would almost require a court to find that the fetus is a baby and I’m figuring VERY few judges would want that can of worms dropped in their lap. > [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > More to the point it says "…decided to Not KILL Our **Child"** , not ‘baby’. The wording could easily be construded as ‘murdered a living child’ instead of ‘aborted a developing embryo’. This. There is no mention of abortion. The claim is the woman killed their child. That, to me, looks like defamation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-bf-erects-billboard-claiming-ex-gf-aborted-their-baby-his-free-speech-vs-her-privacy-rights/584595.md?page=3)