First Abortion-Services TV Ad in U.K. Sparks Criticism, Debate

The first ad ever to offer advice on abortion services was screened on British television Monday night. In a country long known for its reserved demeanor, the ad has provoked vociferous praise and condemnation.

Much like the Focus on the Family ad featuring Tim Tebow that aired in the United States during the Super Bowl this year, the so-called "abortion ad" is fairly ambiguous. The 30-second spot features a number of women from different walks of life who are "late." A voice-over then says that "Being late for a period could mean pregnancy. If you're pregnant and not sure what to do, Marie Stopes International can help." There is no mention of the word abortion. Just a closing shot with the words "Are you late?" and a phone number underneath. You can watch it here:


Marie Stopes International is a non-profit network of sexual and reproductive health clinics in the U.K. analogous to Planned Parenthood in the United States. According to their chief executive, Dana Hovig, "We hope the new 'Are you late?' campaign will encourage people to talk about their choices, including abortion, more openly and honestly, and empower women to reach confident, informed decisions." Last year alone, Marie Stopes International received 350,000 calls to its 24-hour helpline. The organization decided to commission the ad after a study found that less than half of U.K .adults said they would know where to go for specialist advice if they faced an unplanned pregnancy, other than to their general practitioner.

But many do not see this merely as an ad about making informed choices. Some object to the commodification of abortion services. Several pro-life and Christian groups are contemplating legal action on the grounds that family planning is a multi-million-pound industry and should not be aided by TV advertising. (U.K. law bans advertisements for commercial post-conception advice services, but not those of non-profits). Michaela Aston, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion charity Life, said: "To allow abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is grotesque."

Other critics are sounding a theme familiar to those who watched the agonizing 11th-hour drama surrounding the passage of the U.S. health care reform bill. These critics are concerned about public funding for abortions in the U.K.. While Marie Stopes clinics perform abortions for a fee, they also accept National Health Service (NHS) clients whose abortions are funded publicly. According to the BBC, Marie Stopes said that about 80 percent of the abortions it provided in 2009 were carried out on behalf of the NHS.

The aforementioned reactions follow a fairly predictable trope within the hornets' nest that is abortion politics. But when I opened this topic up to a group of women friends at an informal coffee this morning, I got a much more nuanced set of reactions.

One friend was baffled as to why you'd need to advertise abortion clinics on television at all in a country where you can just go to your local GP and get them for free. But another friend pointed out that while it's true that abortion is legal, free and widely available (up to 24 weeks) in the U.K., the conditions surrounding abortions at a public (NHS) hospital are not always ideal. There is a longer wait time and the procedure is performed in a generic "gyne" unit where you might be next to someone suffering a miscarriage (rather than a private room), which many women might find more traumatic.

Another friend -- a practicing Muslim about to give birth to her sixth child -- was troubled by the ad for the same reason that she's troubled by ads for alcohol: they encourage a set of social behaviors that she doesn't personally condone. And yet -- when asked whether she thought abortion should be illegal -- she was absolutely convinced that it was the right choice for some women. Still another friend worried aloud that an over-emphasis on pregnancy prevention in British society has displaced the need to focus on sexually transmitted diseases and sexual health more generally.

Me? As an American, I'm still in shock that an ad that even intimates abortion as an option could air at all. I mean, can you imagine something like this happening in the United States? In Oklahoma, they're debating just how much information women will be required to take in (if not view) about the fetus before they go ahead with an abortion. And that's after the patients are subjected to a detailed set of questions about their reasons for the procedure, the answers to which are then posted online.

My, what a difference an ocean makes.

But I also came away from this whole episode with a newfound appreciation for just how complicated this whole debate really is, particularly when you nest it within the context of a system of socialized medicine. (One friend would have been more comfortable if the ad had been funded by the NHS because it would seem less crass. Another friend would have seen an NHS ad as an improper use of government funds.)

As my colleague Mary C. Curtis pointed out recently in an article about pro-life billboards in Georgia, mention the word abortion (in America) and you have a fight. It's pro-choice vs. pro-life with nothing in between.

But after talking to my friends today, I began to see it as less black and white and more gray.

Which is why it's always good to have coffee with friends.

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