LONDON The first commercial promoting abortion services is airing on a British TV network.
The outfit behind it, Marie Stopes International, is one of the biggest abortion providers in the UK. It say the ad is “clear and non-judgemental”
“The ad is not about abortion,” Julie Douglas, marketing manager of Marie Stopes told Fox News, “It doesn’t mention abortion. It’s about unplanned pregnancy.”
But pro-life advocates in the UK say the commercial is ALL about abortion and it’s going mass-market.
“This advertisement will go in between advertisements for car insurance and cornflakes,” Anthony Ozimic of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children asserted to Fox, “Many people have objected to it on that basis.”
As in the States, abortion is a controversial subject here. It is legal in Great Britain. where abortion rates are some of the highest in Europe. And with the National Health Service, the government here picks up the tab.
For its part, Channel 4, the TV network airing the commercial, says it’s running it at an “appropriate time,” after 10:00 in the evening.
It says it’s been approved for broadcast by government authorities.
And that it’s up to the viewers to make their own judgement about its content.
That UK government approval is actually based on Stopes’ non-profit, charity status. If it was a profit-making firm, the spots wouldn’t be allowed.
As for the public, three quarters of those questioned in one survey said they had no problem with the ads airing.
“If people want to go for that,” one Londoner told us, “they should go for that.”
Another remarked, “I don’t think most people will object.”
But others are angry and want to push the Culture Minister of a new Conservative-led government to act against the commercial.
“The Minister should call on them to reverse the decision,” advocate Ozimic told us, “or overrule them if he has the power to do so.”
This ad campaign has just started…and so has the outrage.