YUSUFF ALI Thursday, January 26 2012

Call me cynical if you like but I am convinced very few business people spend the time to look closely at the moral side of things if there is a buck to be made. A case in point is this whole question of whether private clinics that carry out abortions for profit should be allowed to advertise their services on radio and television.

Well, we now know the answer. After years of argument, advertising watchdogs have decided to give them the go ahead. In making the decision, however, they have triggered a storm which, as you would expect, will not abate easily, if at all.

You could be sure the commercial radio and television companies operating in the UK are rubbing their hands in glee, anticipating additional business in these hard times. And there are many of them here, including three terrestrial channels and countless others broadcasting via satellite and cable directly into millions of homes. Pro-life campaigners have reacted with fury at the decision, saying the move would trivialise human life by putting the choice to have a termination on a par with buying washing-up liquid or cereal.

I find it odd Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is responsible for broadcasting, is understood to be ‘very unhappy’ with the move but apparently cannot override the ruling from the independent advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Until now, restrictions have meant that abortion clinics could advertise their services only if they are not run for profit. Because of these rules, just one ad, by the charity Marie Stopes International, has ever been aired on television. That was in 2010 and it attracted more than 4,500 complaints.

The Daily Mail, in an exclusive report on Saturday, quoted a reliable source as saying, “This isn’t about all-out adverts for abortion. It’s for post-conception advisory services. These places will be saying, ‘Come and chat with us for advice.’ Of course, a lot of those organisations will provide terminations.”

But the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, an anti-abortion campaign group, argues that a change in the law will allow ‘abortion peddlers to poison our culture’. Continuing to use emotive words, it said, “This decision will only serve the abortion industry’s money-spinning trade which hurts women through killing their unborn children.”

Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said, “Having an abortion is a deeply traumatic experience that can lead to further medical and psychological complications. A 30-second ad is not the place to discuss and promote this medical procedure.”

The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) said, “The removal of restrictions would allow legally available post-conception advice services to advertise, while maintaining robust protection for general audiences through existing rules which prevent broadcast advertising from causing harm or offence.”

But Conservative MP Nadine Dorries had a different view. She said, “What this is actually going to do is desensitise what abortion is, and the seriousness of it, as well as making it sound like it’s as easy as having your lunch.”

Pressure to change the rules came from BCAP and the Committee on Advertising Practice, bodies made up of commercial broadcasters and advertising industry insiders who are naturally interested in encouraging advertising.

But, as I said at the beginning, not many bother too much about the moral side of things if there is a buck to be made.