Pro-life TV advertisement ruled ‘political’ after concerns raised about anti-abortion spot

One of Australia’s three commercial free-to-air television networks has expressed concern about a ruling that an advertisement produced by a Christian group, directing viewers to an anti-abortion website, is a political advertisement.

The Australian Communi­cations and Media Authority (ACMA) has ruled that Network Ten’s Perth licensee breached the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 by not broadcasting the “required particulars” of a person or organisation behind a “political” ad, in this case Emily’s Voice – an associated ministry of the evangelical Toowoomba City Church in Queensland – for the advertisement for its “notbornyet” campaign on 7 September 2016.

The ad, broadcast only in Perth, featured a man talking about how he had coped with fathering seven children, despite his initial fears, and encouraging viewers to visit the notbornyet.com website. The ad featured all the family members smiling as each held ultrasound images of unborn babies towards the camera.

The Emily’s Voice website says it aims “to be responsible for significantly reducing the abortion rate in Australia without shaming and condemning women, regardless of the choice they make”.

A submission by the broadcaster to ACMA said: “There are many circumstances where a discussion around pregnancy termination is not political. Advising couples or women on the options available when confronted with an unplanned pregnancy is not and should not be seen as inherently political.”

But ACMA said the Emily’s Voice advertisement “may be characterised as attempting to influence public opinion on the formulation of public policy about abortion as part of the political process, in conjunction with a social message about the option of continuing an unwanted pregnancy”. ACMA claimed that “a key purpose of the ad was to promote the aims and objectives of Emily’s Voice and to change people’s views about abortion”. Political ads must include the name of the person who authorised it, the location of its office and the name of every speaker in the ad.