人工妊娠中絶の広告解禁

　イギリスのＢＣＡＰ（広告実践放送委員会）では、人工妊娠中絶についての情報を含む広告を放送できるよう改正案が提出され、見直しが始まりました。
　あわせてこの改正案では、コンドームの広告についても放映時間が延長されることになっています。　以下BBCより。

UK: Plans for abortion advice TV ads

The plans are not just about pregnancies, but infection rates as well.
Pregnancy advisory services - including abortion information - could
be advertised on TV and radio under proposals due to be released.

Restrictions on condom adverts could also be relaxed, as part of plans
aimed at reducing high UK rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual
infections.

They suggest condom adverts could be shown before the 2100 watershed.

The idea is part of a review of advertising codes, which will now be
put to the public for their views.
Young people tell us TV is an important route through which they get a
huge amount of messages about sex

Will ads cut teen pregnancy rates?

The review - by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the
Broadcast Committee on Advertising Practice (BCAP) - has also proposed
tighter controls over environmental claims and stricter rules to
protect children.

The two committees will also oversee a public consultation, which
closes on 19 June.
Currently, Channel 4 is the only channel where condoms can be
advertised from 1900.
'Accurate information'

BCAP said the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health had called
for a relaxation of the rules on condom advertising, after a rise in
teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

It pointed to figures which showed over 11,000 under-16s were
diagnosed with chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhoea, syphilis or genital
warts from 2002 to 2006.

But under its proposals, condom commercials would not be allowed
around programmes aimed at children under the age of 10.

Pregnancy advice services, which includes information on abortions,
would be allowed to advertise on radio and TV for the first time.
Adverts for such services would have to make it clear whether it
referred women for abortions.

The consultation is UK-wide, but any changes would not necessarily be
applied across the UK. Broadcasters would have to tailor any
advertising to the area in which it was broadcast.
TV ads for condoms outside the UK are often light hearted

Simon Blake, chief executive of Brook, which offers sexual health
advice and services to young people, told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme the move would help people obtain accurate information.
"Young people tell us TV is an important route through which they get
a huge amount of messages about sex.

There is no reason these ads should not be shown. The argument that
it'll increase promiscuity is fatuous and as silly as saying that
wearing seatbelts increases reckless driving.
"Clear, honest, factual advertising about services which provide
honest messages is clearly going to be part of shifting the balance
away from this over-sexualised media."

But John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection
of Unborn Children, said the move would "further commercialise the
killing of unborn children".

He said: "Agencies with a financial interest in promoting abortion
will be in a position to buy expensive broadcast advertising, whereas
groups which provide objective information about abortion and its
impact on women's health will be unlikely to afford to advertise."

Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris, who sat on the science and
technology select committee that examined the issue in 2007, said
there was no reason why carefully regulated advice should not be
available on television.

"What is vital, as the select committee recommended, is that no woman
is misled by anti-abortion campaigners claiming to offer balanced
advice when they never refer for abortion," he said.

"The idea that pregnancy advice, family planning and condom adverts
should not appear before the 9pm watershed is as ridiculous as the
former ban on tampon adverts, which have been shown not to offend
despite the outcry at the time they were allowed."

The review also proposes greater protection for children from other
commercials, including those for adult-rated computer games.

There would also be tighter controls to stop advertisers exaggerating
environmental claims.
Advertisers could not claim their product was free of environmentally-
damaging ingredient if that ingredient was not normally found in
competing products, or highlight environmental benefits which were a
result of legal obligations.

They would also have to base environmental claims on their product's
impact across its total life cycle.
The word "free" would also have to be clarified.

Andrew Brown, chairman of CAP and BCAP, said those drawing up the code
aimed to set a high bar for social responsibility.

"Our priority is to ensure that the rules remain relevant for the
future so that consumers can continue to enjoy and trust the ads they
see," he said.

"Throughout this process, we sought the views of industry and
policymakers and now we want to hear from all other interested
parties, including the people that matter the most in advertising, the
general public."

The advertising codes were reviewed simultaneously for the first time.

Source: BBC online, 26 March 2009