Abortion ads plans show "devious and sleazy agenda" London, : Proposals to allow explicit abortion adverts expose the devious and sleazy agenda of the advertising industry, says leading pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).
SPUC was responding to a report in The Telegraph that the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) proposes to allow commercial abortion providers to advertise on TV and radio.
Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, commented: "These new proposals to allow abortion commercials will cause many people bewilderment. Less than two years ago, the code of practice was reviewed, and a wide public consultation was held. A huge majority of people objected to changing the code to allow abortion adverts. So the code was not changed. "Then last year, with the revised code in force, the first TV advert for abortion was allowed anyway. The advert cleverly avoided mention of abortion. It was all done by implication. It depicted a young woman worried about her period being late.
The advert asked: "Who can help her?" and the answer was a so-called pregnancy advice ‘charity’ that runs a lucrative chain of abortion clinics. "People complained that advertising abortion in this way was illegal, indecent, dishonest and untruthful, but the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) approved the adverts anyway. The ASA has a long pro-abortion track record.
"The advertising industry is displaying a bias to support the devious and sleazy agenda of abortion providers, who have ideological and commercial interests in promoting abortion. "There is a simple answer to this situation. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, has specific powers under the Communications Act to tell Ofcom, the official regulator, to ban these adverts. He should do so", concluded Mr Tully.
Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, can be contacted on (0)7939 178719 or (020) 7820 3127.
Notes for editors: SPUC has criticised the amendments recently proposed by Nadine Dorries MP and Frank Field MP, which are supposedly designed to avoid women being subjected to biased counseling by abortion providers. SPUC has warned that the Dorries/Field approach could backfire, by leaving the regulation of counselling in the hands of pro-abortion health mandarins.