Abortion advertising on telly
- 27 March 2009 22:1818455Man or woman, Ross, it affects us all. And there are some "rights to choose" that obscure the rights of others, but when the others have no voice of their own the scales are tipped unfairly. I would not presume to judge any woman on her choices - that isn't who I am - but I do judge the people who restrict her information and censor her options. To advertise only one option - and it is a real fact that the "pregnacy advisory services" significantly fail to offer or even discuss other options as fully as the one they get paid for - is unfair on the babies and on the women. it is not "just another service", because it ends in death and trauma. We would not sanction advertisements about female circumcision, and one could argue about choices there as well - but we all know that choice is relative to the options available and the cultural demands made.
- 27 March 2009 22:4818463womans right to choose??
yes the right to do what they want with their own body, not the right to take the life of another human being. - Ross Miller
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27 March 2009 22:5718465Bern, yes choices are relative and can only be based on access to information, I do agree that all options should be given equal prominence and equal weight so that people can make informed decisions.
Howard, at what point does a foetus become a baby? at what stage is it viable outside of the womb?"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi - Brian Dixon
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27 March 2009 23:2918468every body has a choice,not only fromprivate operaters but allso from the nhs yes they do abotions to they allso give out good sound advice with lots of options. - 28 March 2009 10:2318478No, Brian, they do not. there are many options closed off to mainstream women becasue they are not discussed at the point at which they would be useful. Like it or not, the abortion industry is in it for profit and not for any altruistic purpose, so they have no stake in sharing information about other options less likely to lead to abortion.
- 28 March 2009 12:2718482I am about as far away from being a catholic as you can get but would oppose such advertising not only because of the sanitised impression it would give the vunerable but also for the support it would give a medical proffesion that is already too eagre to offer abortion as a first choice rather than a last.
Having watched the scans during an amnio centisis and clearly seeing the emerging baby responding to the intrussion of the needle I am in no doubt as to the early emergence of human responses. Any procedure that endorses the destruction of life for social and economic reasons has to be deplored and by putting abortion on a par with boob enlargements this is exactly what such advertising would achieve.Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour - Brian Dixon
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28 March 2009 12:3818483bern,if what you say is true would it be better to ask queastions to obtain all and i repeat all avenues have been explored. - 28 March 2009 12:5218484Asking questions is not always easy if one is vulnerable, young, or under pressure. It is up to the people caring for and supporting these women and girls to enable options rather than close them down, and the majority of those fail utterly in that duty of care. Chris - I can only agree with you, an ad campaign, however it was to bo done, around this particular issue would be abominable, reducing it to the level of car insurance or holiday choices.
- Brian Dixon
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28 March 2009 17:2818492then all i can say is that the system is flawed and needs an overhaul. - 29 March 2009 11:0718523There is no real "system", just a series of pathways to the abortion clinics. Other very real options are not raised as viable or realistic during the "process" of pregnancy advice. The term "pregnancy advice" lends it a clean and wholeseome air which it most definitely does not deserve.
- 29 March 2009 11:1318525Quote:the teen pregancies are just as likely as the female wanting to get pregnant then getting shot of the male.
Indeed, howard, quite right - there is certainly the case that some females want to get pregnant, and then get rid of the male. But my point is that it is a biological function that it's the woman who carries the baby, and that is something of which to be proud. We are different from men, and our identity can be different and flexible and fluctuating also (sometimes we can think of ourselves as one, when expecting we are two or even more in the same body, when breast-feeding we are in a partnership).
Pursuing this, it then becomes a big question as to why a woman should want to emulate a male function, ie having sex without the baby-consequence, to the extent that she is prepared to abort the thing that is growing, and potentially to suffer herself, emotionally and even to death. (Note, the 15-year old who died just this week, as a consequence of not being given antibiotics after an abortion - they had considered all the options of what to do about the new pregnancy, we're told!).
In other words, there's the talk about a woman's "right" to choose - but what exactly is she choosing? I'm trying not to mention the f-word here (feminism!) but one strong critique of abortion from that perspective is just that - why on earth do we want to be like men in this way? Is abortion, ultimately, not a feminist and female-liberating thing, but deep-down another manifestation of partriarchal thinking? Gasp!
Okay, they're various quesitons - but to return to your comment, howard, yes, indeed there are some women who get pregnant and then chuck out the male. This is a social, not a biological thing, so much - but again, one has to question ... exactly why? Because males don't take their responsibilities for the offspring (which certainly can be linked to biology)?. Because a baby is a good bargaining tool for housing? Because there is seemingly no other option for the female in terms of career? Do they have sex in the first place because they think it will make men like them - like the poor lass who thought this and got acid tipped over her by her rapists, a couple of months ago? - and why on earth do women need to seek male approval in the first place? (On this point, incidentally, Chris P perspicaciously mentions abortion as being put on a par with the boob-job.) Additionally, for my comments above, I wonder ... might there just be social class (yes, it does exist) influences operating in here too?
A long post, I know, but some points that I think are worth considering. This does not mean, however, that I would be critical or disrespectful of anyone seeking or having had an abortion (or a boob-job, come to that). Indeed not! But I reiterate the point that abortion isn't merely a question of "choice" - but that that "choice" is severely circumscribed in many ways, and some of which are not easily or immediately apparent. Abortion advertising merely continues this, in my view - it purports to offer "choice" but does so only within a very limited domain.
There was a debate on advertising abortion, incidentally, on BBC1 this morning - did anyone catch it? What did the people there say?The Dover War Memorial Project
www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk - 29 March 2009 11:2218527Maggie, you raise many real and pertinent issues. Absolutely, there is no meaningful choice in this arena at the moment for all the reasons you mention: to make informed choices one needs all the options along with potential consequences and the capacity to choose freely. If these do not exist neither does freedom of choice and the vulnerable or desperate girls and women seeking support and answers are thrown to the lions in the form of commercial abortion services who benefit financially from performing increasing numbers of abortions. Even if one were wholly pro-abortion one would have to acknowledge the enormous suffering that results from abortion but is rarely, if ever, discussed: the trauma, the emotional devastation, the suicides in later life, the depression and anxiety, the possibility of death or infertility. these are not scaremongering words, but a reminder that this is not a "clean" procedure, that it does have consequences, and that the consequences are not spoken of, mainly because it would affect the abortion uptake and bank accounts would suffer.
- Ross Miller
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29 March 2009 11:2818530Yes I caught it
It really was a replica of the debate on here, the only interesting comments were from a number of teenage girls who condemn the poor quality of sexual education at school and the lack of information available to them, they also opined that TV is the medium where they get much of the information they want (the internet is of course the other place). The adults in the audience all took pretty much entrenched positions on either side of the debate."Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi - 29 March 2009 11:3318532Two excellent postings and as a male I have nothing further or constructive to add other than I don't think abortion is a 'service' that should be advertised on television for my reasons and others stated previously.
We will be advertising surrogate mothers and sperm donors next.
Just picture it a hunky male with a glint in his eye and a smile on his face looks into the camera and a voice over states
Would you like to be fertilised by Hank,does he tick all the right boxes..then dial 0800 *ANK 121 now...sorry not making light but where do we draw the line?Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter) - Brian Dixon
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29 March 2009 11:5018535marek,bern maggie you all make good points in your posts.isnt tv advertising just informing people about services etc.its like me listning to breast enlargement ads,being male i dont need any enlargements.but it dose bring on a good debate. - 29 March 2009 11:5118536A good point well made Marek! Ross - teenagers will always blame someone else, usually an authority figure, when they meet their needs regardless of the consequences!! I have 3 teenagers and a 20 year old, have the utmost respect for teens and actually really like most of the teenagers I meet (whether that is socially or in a work context!) but that doesn't blind me to their amazing ability to pass the buck!!! The main issue that strikes me here is that this is a cultural matter: if teens are getting their advice and info from the internet, TV and their peers then the chances are high that they will be getting a degree of inaccurate and sometimes dangerous information. Then there is peer pressure, commercial interests and fear to add to the mix. All of which simply confirms to me that advertising what will amount to abortion clinics on TV is abhorrent and unwanted.
- 29 March 2009 11:5118537Brian - have youi not read any of the posts? It isn't real proper information these clinics deliver, but advertisements for theor own services: abortions.
- Brian Dixon
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29 March 2009 11:5418538bern,i have read yours and others carefully thats why i posted what i did.
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
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29 March 2009 13:0018539to further to my post above [58] in the end all it comes down to an advert to let you know about its services,like other adverts on the tv you watch them you either take note of the ones you want to watch and ignore the rest.just because its advertising a certain service dosent mean you got to rush out and have one dose it be sencible,we are not all vain and stupid as some people make us want to belive. - 29 March 2009 16:3418546That is the whole point, Brian - it isn't "just" advertising and there are no other places that offer alternative options.This is not about choosing between insurers, or promoting a new margarine,