[1]LONDON (BP)–A plan in Great Britain to air the country’s first abortion television ad is drawing protests from pro-lifers, who say such a controversial subject should not be advertised in tandem with soap and car commercials.
Abortion advertising in the country actually is banned, but only if the organization makes a profit. Marie Stopes International, the abortion provider behind the ad, is nonprofit.
The 30-second ad actually won’t mention the word “abortion” but will simply ask, “Are you late?” The ad will then point women to a phone number, the Telegraph newspaper reported. The May 24 ad will air around 10:10 p.m. local time during a game show, the newspaper said.
“To allow abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is grotesque,” Michaela Aston, from the pro-life organization Life, said.
“By suggesting that abortion is yet another consumer choice, it trivializes human life and completely contravenes the spirit of the 1967 Abortion Act, which was supposed to allow for a small number of legal abortions in a limited number of hard cases, but has been twisted and distorted to allow for mass abortion on demand.”
Said Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship: “These adverts will just mean more women will end up on the abortion industry conveyor belt. Marie Stopes may not make profit but they don’t get paid at all if they don’t carry out any abortions.”
[2]Marie Stopes International is a well-known abortion provider worldwide. It is one of the groups that was impacted during the Bush administration by the so-called Mexico City Policy, a rule promoted by pro-life U.S. presidents which prohibits international organizations from receiving U.S. family planning funds unless they agree not to perform or counsel for abortion. President Bush put the policy back in place, but President Obama rescinded it.
In 2009 Marie Stopes performed one in three abortions in Great Britain, according to the Christian Institute.
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Compiled by Michael Foust, an assistant editor of Baptist Press.