New rules may allow abortion clinics to advertise on TV

Controversial plans could allow private abortions clinics to advertise their services on television and on the radio in the UK, if they are approved.

Until this point, the only clinics that were able to advertise abortion services were those that were run on a not-for-profit basis.

The new plans to allow adverts of private abortion clinics have come under intense fire from campaigners and pro-life charities.

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Joanne Hill from the charity Life, said in an interview: “By suggesting that abortion is another consumer choice, human life is trivialised and the distress and heartache faced by a woman making this irrevocable decision, which ends the life of her child, is glossed over.”

Other arguments against the potential adverts claim that clinics would be encouraging women to have abortions in order for them to generate revenue and make a profit and that it was irresponsible advertising.

“To allow commercial abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is shocking and exceeds the bounds of responsible advertising,” Hill added.

Under the current rules permitting adverts for not-for-profit abortion clinics, only one advert, for Marie Stopes International, has been broadcast in the UK and it received 4,500 complaints.

The proposals have already been submitted to the media watchdog OFCOM and it is thought an approval can be expected at the end of this year.