Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSAbortion and condom adverts proposed
Adverts for pregnancy advisory services, including advice on abortions could be shown in prime-time slots in a bid to tackle teenage pregnancy rates.
A review of advertising rules could allow abortion advice to be advertised for the first time on television and radio.
Under the new proposals advertisers would have to stipulate if the service does not refer women directly for abortion.
Restrictions on advertising condoms on television could also be eased after calls from the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on Sexual Health and HIV to relax the rules.
Currently only Channel 4 can advertise condoms before the watershed, but it must be after 7pm and the ads continue to provoke a small number of complaints to the advertising watchdog.
The group referred to figures showing from 2002 to 2006, more than 11,000 under-16s were diagnosed with gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis, herpes or genital warts.
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee on Advertising Practice (BCAP) will now review the Advertising Codes as part of a 12-week consultation.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment.
Online training units, written and reviewed by experts. Earn two hours' CPD and a personalised certificate for your portfolio.
Subscribers get five FREE learning units and non-subscribers can access each learning unit for £10 + VAT.
Share
Readers' comments (3)
Anonymous | 26-Mar-2009 7:32 pm
I am disgusted by this! Having an abortion is a massive decision to have to make and can have serious physical and psychological repercussions. The availability of abortions does not protect the person against STD's and HIV. This is what the government should be focusing on preventing and by doing so, the numbers of unwanted pregnancies will most likely reduce. Whilst I accept that abortion has it's place, in my opinion, advertising it & making appear accessible and simple is undermining the hard work done by nurses in sexual health promotion as it detracts from the emphasis on safe sex.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Anonymous | 27-Mar-2009 6:15 pm
I am a bit upset with the whole procedure regarding the after pill. I took a close relative, the other day to the chemist to get the pill, to be told by one that they didn't do it, another told me because she was 15 + they were not able to give it, but was told to either go to a clinic or the local NHS walk in centre. We did this, we waited 2 hours, we were then seen by a nurse practitioner who took all the detail, but also because of her age, she could not precribe it either and transfered us to the Thames Doc. We thought that would be fine, but when we finally got to see Him, he made us feel very uncomfertable with the questions, and didn't want to understand that they did take precautions it just split. He finally gave her the pill. We then went to Tescos to be confronted with a poster, saying Emergency Controception available here, no questions. We just thought if we went to the walk in centre it would be easier how wrong were we. So I am so upset with the whole procedure, surely if the girl is responsible and went to the NHS for help they should have been more sympothetic to her concerns instead of making her feel stupid. But yes I do think it is a good idea to advertertise the After Pill and condoms on TV, they do on the radio so what is the difference, but they should also tell the audience where they can get good, confidential help.
Unsuitable or offensive?
Davis Whittier | 29-Mar-2009 2:41 pm
A good move, but there are hundreds of other issues to address to improve the situation, one of them is education. There is a book in the U.S. called The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality that has been around for years and is used in schools that have been successful in reducing pregnancy and STD rates. But there are plenty of family cohesion issues that need to be addresse also, that will only worsen due to the economy.
Unsuitable or offensive?