Abortion service ads to be aired on TV

The advertisement for unplanned pregnancy and abortion advice at Marie Stopes clinics will "confront the taboo" and raise awareness of sexual health, the organisation said yesterday.

The campaign will air for the first time at 10.10pm on Monday on Channel 4 until the end of June.

It follows a study that found fewer than half (42 per cent) of UK adults knew where to go for specialist advice about an unplanned pregnancy other than their GP.

The survey also found that 76 per cent of adults believed commercials for services offering advice on unplanned pregnancy should be allowed on television at appropriate times.

The Advertising Standards Authority said that if viewers had concerns, the authority was able to consider complaints once the advertisement had aired but could not act on objections that viewers might have about the service being advertised at all.