KANSAS CITY, Mo. one organization said it was sharing an important message with Royals fans at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night. The group is slamming the Royals’ support of a pro-life group, and it said Royals fans deserve the truth.
More than 44,000 people have signed a petition from pro-choice group “Ultraviolet” urging the team to cut ties to the Vitae Foundation. But the Royals say the organization isn’t choosing sides.
Fans arriving early to the game between the Astros and Royals were greeted by a plane buzzing over Kauffman Stadium, pulling a banner that read: “Royals fans deserve the truth – drop Vitae”
“This is in response to the Kansas City Royals partnership with the Vitae Foundation, which is an extreme anti-choice organization,” said Karin Roland, the Chief Campaigns Officer at UltraViolet.
Roland with Ultraviolet — a national women`s advocacy organization — said the Royals need to stop running pro-life radio ads paid for by the Vitae Foundation.
Roland claims Vitae misleads the public.
“They are known to tell women that they will get cancer or suffer debilitating mental illnesses if they have an abortion, which is just not true,” Roland added.
The Vitae Foundation declined an interview, but in a statement, describes itself as a non-profit, educational organization. It said the foundation works to inform pregnant women about the sanctity of human life. It also said it works to restore the value of life as a core belief in America.
But Ultraviolet said the foundation’s message doesn’t have a place at Kauffman.
“This is an extreme, radical, anti-choice interest group that has no business at a baseball game,” Roland said.
The Royals also declined an interview on the topic.
In a statement, the organization said that it’s been running the radio ads since 2016, but “as a general manner of practice, the Royals take no official position on culturally-sensitive issues.”
Roland said that’s not good enough.
“We shouldn`t have to listen to and be forced to watch extreme propaganda from an anti-choice group while we watch a baseball game,” added Roland.
The Royals also point out that the Vitae Foundation has similar agreements with other sports teams.
