Service not available in Northern Ireland
Channel 4’s decision not to broadcast the Marie Stopes ‘Are you late?’ TV advert in Northern Ireland raises questions about what information it is criminal to distribute here. The Chief Executive of Marie Stopes International told the Guardian that ‘the advertising of abortion facilities, their contact numbers or addresses is against the law in Northern Ireland.’
The fact that the advert in question does not contain the word ‘abortion’, and is for an organisation that provides a wide range of sexual health services, apparently makes no difference. About 3,000 women every year from Ireland, North and South, find their way to Marie Stopes clinics for abortions anyway, and the idea that preventing a TV ad can stop the spread of information seems ridiculously quaint.
However, we are by no means all online, and the attitudes of GPs are notoriously patchy. Access to abortion is already determined by wealth here; access to information about it shouldn’t be equally dependent on an individual’s resources. At least this area of our hazy abortion law seems easy to test.
What constitutes ‘advertising’? Are we allowed to whisper ‘Google it’? Is a billboard out of the question? Channel 4 might not be willing to risk it, but I’m sure somebody is.
conception is when sperm and egg create a child. A CHILD. This mans view.
The implements which are used in aborting unborn children look like tools from a gulag torture chamber. Where are all those people who harp on about alleged abuse of human rights in Guantanamo or where ever when you need them? Do they not care about the slaughter of the innocents which takes place every day in our so-called civilised society?
Of course, abortion has been camouflaged by the use of many horror-hiding euphemisms which cover up the methods and motives of this most selfish of deeds.
It always amazes me how many Slugger readers and posters have no qualms concerning such barbarity. The bloody fruits of a liberal society, I suppose.
Well, Mick, you warn me for speaking the truth and you ignore Red Kangaroo three times. Nuff said.
Methinks you presume too much! Sad!
pinni: The implements which are used in aborting unborn children look like tools from a gulag torture chamber.
Wow – there goes the kitchen sink! What do you think of the implements used for heart bypass operations; and does that have any implications for whether you think that heart bypass operations should be performed?
Good point, Reader, although the point is that one set is used to save lives while the other is used to destroy innocent life. Maybe you should watch The Silent Scream
You have your view. I beleve a child is a CHILD when it takes its first breath of air and separates from the mother.
But going back to the story.
Why censor the advert?
i have had an abortion. i am not ashamed, nor do i regret it. it was a courageous decision and the right decision. i have 3 children, 2 with autism, i am a single parent. the father of my last pregnancy was an alcoholic, i found this out a week before i found out i was pregnant, we had used contraception to prevent an an wanted pregnancy but contraception doesnt always do what it should. the relationship was terminated, then the pregnancy. In reply to earlier comments… dont whine about childless women wanting children in NI, we have thousands forgotten about in our care system! where my aborted “child” potentially may have ended up considering i would not have had the time required to care for it, being a lifetime. the 3 living & breathing children i have consume every minute of my day and if anything, require more love&assistance than it is possible for me to supply on a daily basis. most abortions, believe it or not, are not selfish decisions, they are for the benefit of that being. any woman should understand that deciding to end a pregnancy can not be an easy decision to make or to live with afterwards. i am lucky, that the happiness i see in my children daily provides me with knowing that i made the right choice. had info&nhs abortions been available here i would have had the pregnancy terminated by 9 weeks gestation. as it was not,& i was also de-railed by the anti-abortion nuts, i was 15 weeks gestation. give these women a break ffs