As an abortion provider prepares to advertise on TV for the first time, pro-life groups like the ProLife Alliance, SPUC and Life are furious. A Marie Stopes advert will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Monday, promoting their advice on unplanned pregnancies and abortion. Pro-abortion groups welcomed the move, but anti-abortion campaign group Life described it as ‘grotesque’. Spokeswoman Michaela Aston said, ‘Given the opposition to abortion advertising expressed during the recent public consultation’, the decision ‘to allow abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is grotesque.’ The Advertising Standards Authority explained that non-profit abortion providers are allowed to advertise on UK television, and that viewers can only complain after an advert is aired.
Sources: The Guardian (19/5); The Times (20/5)