NEW YORK, Sep. 5, 00 (CWNews.com)

    The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has relented in its decision not to allow the pro-life group American Life League (ALL) to buy advertising space on the subway, which ALL characterized on Monday as a victory for the First Amendment.

    The poster-sized advertisement depicts a pregnant woman with the caption, "Please don't do it. She's your baby." ALL said the MTA initially resisted the ad even though it accepts advertising from abortionists. "We are here to celebrate a First Amendment victory, I think, not only for the American Life League and pro-lifers, but for all Americans," said Judie Brown, the group's president.

    The MTA denied that it refused to run the ad because of its political content, instead claiming it initially rejected the ad because it failed to list a sponsor, a requirement for subway ads. "We require the sponsor name to appear on the ad, and after they did that, the ad went up," a spokesman said.

    The league said the MTA and its advertising agency, TDI Worldwide, used the prohibition against anonymous ads as an excuse to block it. The league released a June 13 letter from its attorney to TDI stating that as early as March the ad agency knew the sponsor's name would be listed.

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