Abortion Ad Complaints Rejected

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received over 1,000 complaints (the 7th highest ever) over an ad by Marie Stopes advertizing their abortion helpline.

But they rejected every last one of them.

Marie Stopes is a British charity that runs a telephone helpline for women dealing with unwanted pregnancies. In May they placed an ad for this service which didn’t mention the word abortion once.

Yet there were 1,054 complaints to the ASA.

We called it “the gentlest of soft sell” because it didn’t mention abortion once and was so ambiguous that it could have been interpreted in many ways that have nothing to do with abortion (as The Other Man demonstrated in this post here).

Yet people complained. It promoted abortion, offended their religious beliefs, didn’t make room for fathers, commercialized abortion, and played down physical and mental risks.

While all of this may have been implied by omission of certain facts or messages, none of it was overtly stated and so the complains didn’t have a leg to stand on.

The ASA said:

Whilst the ad featured three women, we did not consider that the ad focused on or advocated any particular choice or course of action over another, or put forward any assumptions about what the women would or should do.

We were satisfied that any callers to the advice line would be advised about the health implications of any intervention or procedure which might be appropriate for her, in consultation with a qualified and regulated healthcare professional.

In fact, the overwhelming response to Marie Stopes was positive. They had “significantly more calls to the advice line during the period the ad was shown from women and health professionals who expressed gratitude for the support”.

I still have concerns about the commercialization of abortion, but I’m happy the ad was not pulled off the air, and I have faith that the industry will be monitored so that commercialization won’t become an issue.

Many women don’t know what their options are when it comes to unwanted pregnancy. Having access to a helpline with a good reputation that can help them make these tough decisions is essential for women who don’t know where else to turn.

Also read:

The Commercialization Of Abortion

Fun With The Marie Stopes Ad