First UK TV commercial for abortion services

Posted Thursday 20, May 2010 by: JJG

Marie Stopes: 1 in 3 UK women will have an abortion in their lifetime

The first ever commercial for unplanned pregnancy and abortion advisory services will be aired on British television, but not Northern Ireland.

The commercial, to be screened first on Channel 4 , is part of a new campaign by Marie Stopes International.

Independent YouGov research revealed that only 42% of UK adults affirmed that they would know where to go for specialist advice (other than going to their GP) if they or their partner were faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

The survey also showed that over three quarters of UK adults (76%) believed that commercials about unplanned pregnancy advice services should be permissible on TV within appropriate broadcasting times.

The campaign asks ‘Are you late?’ and directs women facing unplanned pregnancy to Marie Stopes International’s 24hr helpline, where they can receive support, advice and services.

Julie Douglas, head of marketing at Marie Stopes International, said :

“We feel television is the best place to let women know who to contact if they need help. The campaign will encourage people to talk about unplanned pregnancy and abortion more openly and honestly.”

Michaela Aston, a spokeswoman for anti-abortion charity Life, said:

“By suggesting that abortion is yet another consumer choice, it trivialises 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.”

An Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) spokesman said:

“Any ad that airs has to comply with all the relevant rules in the Advertising Code, which aims to ensure that ads are not misleading and socially responsible.”

The commercial will be subject to a legal challenge from the Society  for the Protection of Unborn Children  which points to the clinics having a:

“financial interest in drumming up demand for abortion.”

The commercial will air on Channel 4 from May and throughout June.

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 10:56 amand is filed under education, Marie Stopes abortion advert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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2 Responses to “First UK TV commercial for abortion services”

  1. William Moore Says:
    May 25th, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    I am always against abortion because it is a sin to kill an innocent child.-*”

  2. Cold Remedies Says:
    December 4th, 2010 at 5:39 am

    what i can say is that abortion is a sin and it should be deemed illegal by all means “.-

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