22 January, 2012

On your screen now

News reaches us that for-profit abortion clinics are to be allowed to advertise on UK television. A sign of the times?

Abortion is of course legal in the UK – this year will be the 45th anniversary of the bill receiving Royal Assent, and the performing of abortions for profit is also legal, but one can’t help feeling a little disquiet at the news.

Advertising is used to distinguish one brand from another for the purposes of profit. On what basis are these abortion clinics (they call themselves post-conception advisory services; why do they need a euphemism?) competing with each other? Quality? Will someone be allowed to offer cut-price, only slightly risky abortions? I don’t suppose so.

What about the nature of advice? Catholic charities have been prevented from advising women not to have an abortion (family-friendly PM David Cameron voted for this). So, no, it won’t be the nature of the advice.

Will they try celebrity endorsement? If one of the in-crowd like Katie Price or Lady Gaga have entrusted themselves to a particular clinic will other women think it a good idea to emulate them?

Or is all this just to they can advertise abortion itself, to promote the concept? Britain has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, and I have often wondered if we shouldn’t be trying to find out why.

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