Controversial ad sparks abortion debate in UK

Advertising is dividing opinions in the UK as a TV advert for Marie Stopes Sexual Health Organisation offering advice on abortion prepares to be aired in Britain for the first time on Monday.

The Marie Stopes Sexual Health Organisation hopes the ad will encourage women to speak more openly about their choices.

Pro-life groups are outraged, saying it will trivialize life and present the procedure as yet another consumer choice, leading to mass abortion on demand.

The press officer for the British National Party, Carlos Cortiglia, doesn’t believe that the ad is needed at all.

“In Britain there are about 200,000 abortions every year, of which 65,000 are done by the organisation that publishes the advert. So basically it is a multi-national organisation taking advantage of its charity status to invest no less than 300,000 pounds in the campaign. This is not about the rights of women, but about business,” Cortiglia told RT.

According to Kate Smurthwaite, spokesperson for Abortion Rights, the ads pose no risk of trivializing the issue of abortion.

“They would [trivialize] if they featured supermodels in designer clothes. These abortions ads give information, they don’t tell anyone what to do or say ‘two abortions for the price of one’. They are not trying to sell anything. They know perfectly well that 50% of women in UK wouldn’t know where to go for these kind of services,” Smurthwaite told RT.