Pro-Choice Commercials

[Yaoi Huntress Earth]

You know, it's interesting that despite the "liberal media" I have never seen a pro-choice commercial. While I don't like abortion, I was wondering what you guys think would make for a good pro-choice ad.

[SilentLoner]

I actually have seen this one ad that I guess could be considered pro-choice. it was a picture of a doctor's office, and there was this persistent knocking on the door. then there were these messages on the screen that said something like "the government is making laws that continue to threaten women's rights. keep the government out of the doctor's office."

And before the March for Women's lives last year there were TV ads for it. I saw this one that began with a woman walking down the street. she glances at a newspaper stand and sees the headline: "Abortion Outlawed!"

she falls back with this look of horror on her face, while the scene flashes to a judge in the middle of a press conference, looking all smug.

then the ad rewinds to the woman walking down the street again, but this time she picks up a flyer for the march. message: "its not to late to protect your right to choose. Come to the March for Women's lives"

good commercials, both of them.

 

hmm, if I had to make a pro-choice ad I would make a scenario of what would happen if abortion were indeed outlawed. I have the idea of an image of a hospital with women who have had "back alley" abortions. then I would show statistics of how many illegal abortions and resulting deaths occurred in the years abortion was illegal in the states. the show the statistics of how many women around the world die from this in countries where legal abortion is outlawed. (yes, it IS a big number).

 

I got the idea because a few years back, when I lived in El Salvador, while visiting my sick grandma, I actually saw this woman in a hospital who had just had a back alley abortion. she was a young married mother with two kids. in the few minutes I was out there in the hall, she died. the image never left me, I was just twelve at the time.

[Taphophilia]

Wow, SilentLoner.

 

Actually, back alley abortions still happen in the US because there are not enough abortion providers and women do die. Although, it's not reported to the public at large. However, the pro-life side makes a big deal if a woman dies from an abortion. For instance, a college student in California had a reaction to RU 487 and died from hemorrage. It was all over the news.

 

I want to make this clear, I am not pro-abortion. I do not like abortion. I am am pro-choice. There is a difference.

 

As far as a commercial, they should show a single working mother struggling financially, emotionally, and still trying to be the best parent to her children that she can be. Then discovering she is pregnant, wondering how she will cope with the added burden of another child and still having to cope with all the pressure that she has to endure. Who will help her? The Fundy's? The Pro-life crowd? Please, don't make me laugh!

[quicksand]

Pro-abortion is pro-life. Shocking I know. But its true.

[duderonomy]

I'm SO tired of the 'back alley abortions' thing. Then let's legalize everything, because if it's illegal, it'll happen anyway, but under some detrimental conditions!

 

I'm not for or against. I'm just tired of that tired old rationalization.

 

Having said that, a good commercial might be just a picture of that struggling single mom that just found out that she's pregnant AGAIN, followed by the words... "See?" Or you could substitute that with a picture of me.

Or maybe since this seems to be mostly a religious issue in our society, maybe a picture of the Virgin Mary, with the caption... "Are you willing to take that chance?"

[Amethyst]

Why not show them putting women in handcuffs and locking them in jail, and showing them on death row? The crime? Having an abortion. Think about it, what else are the fundies going to have for a punishment? They'll want to kill them, just like all the other "criminals."

 

I want to know how they justify throwing a woman in jail for the rest of her life or giving her the death penalty if she has an abortion because she was raped or was going to die without it when it's banned. Maybe read a bible verse about "Judge not, lest ye be judged, according to the same way" or have it scroll across the screen.

 

The commercials need to address the issue of whether it is just to punish someone for something like that, because the vast majority of people have never actually thought about what the penalty for an illegal abortion would be. If the fundies have their way, it could very well be the death penalty.

[duderonomy]

On the other hand,

 

Maybe there shouldn't be TV commercials about this. What are ya gonna do, put them in between the one with the big bear telling the little kid bear that he/she doesn't need to use as much toilet paper now, because there is this new, thicker brand, and the commercial for the people sniffing couches and falling on their faces sniffing carpets and the kid putting boxer shorts on his head and then taking a big inhale because someone bought Febreeze.

 

Pro or not pro... if thrown into that mix, would anyone take an abortion commercial seriously?

 

[Amethyst]

Pro or not pro... if thrown into that mix, would anyone take an abortion commercial seriously?

 

Good point. I already ignore 99% of the commercials I see. Maybe if one is very creative and/or funny, I might watch it once.

[Dianka]

I think people would take an abortion commercial seriously if it was not some over-worked cliche.

 

How about this.....

 

A "good Christian" woman - about 25 years old, goes into a restaurant paractically everyday and cries, but will not tell anyone that she is close to why she is crying. Then, the camera pans in on this woman in the bathroom at her house silently giving birth - don't want to be too loud now because "good Christian" daddy may wake up, realize what is goin on, and beat the shit out of his daughter. The "new mommy" drops her kid off in front of the hospital and returns to the restaurant. She wails in the restaurant and finally tells a waitress what has been going on, and she says that the baby looked sick; she is scared that her drinking may have fucked the baby up. Oh, and then she mentions that this is the third time she has done all of this - including silently giving birth in her bathroom.

 

It's not too creative though, that happened when I was a waitress.

 

Edit

 

I suppose that wouldn't be much of a pro-choice commercial because she did have the option of going to the clinic. I suppose it would be a good illustration of why we should lower the prices of abortions. She said she didn't have the money - which is bullshit, I knew the girl pretty well at the time. She was living with her parents and making about 40k a year. Trying to save up for a condo. But goddam, there are a lot of girls out there who just have the baby becaue they can't pony up the 450 bucks.

[Taphophilia]

A long time ago, I sold cell phones. Some customers of mine had a fifteen year old daughter who hid her pregnancy. She skipped school to give birth in her room, and spent the day with her baby dressing it in her cabbage patch doll clothes.

When her parents arrived home around 6pm, she paniced put the baby on the back porch of the neighbors. It was very cold that February, 20 below zero. They didn't find the baby 'til the next day frozen to death.

[highvoltage]

A long time ago, I sold cell phones. Some customers of mine had a fifteen year old daughter who hid her pregnancy. She skipped school to give birth in her room, and spent the day with her baby dressing it in her cabbage patch doll clothes.

When her parents arrived home around 6pm, she paniced put the baby on the back porch of the neighbors. It was very cold that February, 20 below zero. They didn't find the baby 'til the next day frozen to death.

 

Aw, that's horrible. Granted it was a pretty stupid action on the part of the teenage mother to leave her baby outside on such a cold night, but xtian view on extramarital sex is self defeating. Somehow children are only legitimate if they're born into a classic nuclear family...I wish that people would realize that all children are equally deserving at a fair chance of life.

 

I don't like abortion, but I wish to keep it legal. There are some cases in which it is a legit option, especially if it is done early in the pregnancy. Maybe if it would have spared this baby that cold, cold night...

[The Sage Nabooru]

I live in Missouri, not in but around St. Louis. I love St. Louis because it's so liberal and free-thinking, even the Christians aren't pushy. But as soon as you're thirty minutes outside of the city - like I am - BAM! You're in Super Jesus Territory. Ask any of my neighbors about how Catholics aren't "REAL" Christians and how the death penalty is a reasonable punishment for practicing homosexuals.

 

Anyway, around here, it's illegal to:

 

* Place an advertisement or announcement of abortion services on any billboard, television or radio broadcast.

*Place messages or symbols presenting a positive view of abortion on billboards or any television or radio broadcast; or speak on television or radio broadcasts in favor of abortion. (Reporters doing news stories on the subject are exempt from this rule, but I don't think any of them would dare to risk their lives like that.)

 

It's LEGAL to:

 

*Refuse the "morning-after" pill to women if it goes against your religious beliefs, if you are a pharmacist.

*Refuse to present abortion as an option to women with unwanted pregnancies if you are a doctor.

*Refuse to aid pregnant patients in finding an abortion provider if you are a doctor.

 

Welcome to Gov. Matt Blunt's empire.

[Sokudo Ningyou]

I think a good commercial could show the possible outcomes of abortion vs birth, maybe for a teenage mother (seeing as they appear to be the majority of girls who need the option of choice). Or at least, the extreme circumstances, because a teenage mother is more likely to struggle with school, or drop out entirely, and basically work like a dog just to support herself and the kid if the parents aren't willing to help; even if they are, they're quite likely to be poor themselves. Of course, you could switch "abortion" with "adoption," but frankly, I see no difference between the emotional trauma of ridding yourself of a child, or giving birth merely to give the kid away and never seeing (possibly) it again. Both are equally distasteful.

 

And adoption isn't a given for all of those kids. Even my roommate's sister, who was also adopted just like him, went to South Korea just to adopt a kid. Not even a real baby; the kid has to be almost two. You'd think she would adopt locally if that were the case, but nope. Went outside the country.

[Asimov]

I'm SO tired of the 'back alley abortions' thing. Then let's legalize everything, because if it's illegal, it'll happen anyway, but under some detrimental conditions!

 

I'm not for or against. I'm just tired of that tired old rationalization.

 

Huh?

[The Sage Nabooru]

Actually, I think adoption can be very cruel.

 

There are millions of orphans in the world. Millions. There are millions of girls alone in China, left on railways and under bridges and picked up by a worker of an overcrowded orphanage on the outskirts of Chinese cities. Of these millions of girls, only a handful - if that - will ever be adopted. The rest lose hope at around age four. The orphanage has nothing to do but raise the child to work and live in a Chinese factory for the rest of her life.

 

AIDS orphans in Africa, also piling up in the millions.....the girls born to prostitutes in Calcutta. So many millions, hundreds of thousands of millions, and most can't even dream of ever finding a home outside of the shabby huts and delapidated institution buildings they eke a life out of.

 

Even in my own hometown, a local orhanage runs ads on TV for adoptable kids. These are children with smiling, happy photos of them placed on a screen, with a description of how pleasant and wonderful they are - but they're already 10, and the folks at home are too busy thinking about, "Wow, I'll bet he's pretty mentally fucked up at that age" and "but I'd look so goofy with a black kid." Those kids will probably never find homes. They'll never have a family. And yes, they will be mentally fucked up. They'll live thinking that they were unwanted and not good enough and that there must be something wrong with them for nobody to take them in.

 

Do we really want to add to these numbers? Do we want more children out there in these desperate, hopeless situations? Why not fix the lives of the children that are here, that are born and living, rather than produce new unwanted children and make the problem worse.

[Stormwarden]

Better message:

 

A monologue featuring a pregnant girl:

 

"I was told that by law I have to notify my parents before having an abortion...I have a problem. What do I do if the father of my baby...is also my father?"

 

The above scenario happens far more often than is comfortable for the "pro-life"'ers to consider.

[Sokudo Ningyou]

Actually, I think adoption can be very cruel.

 

There are millions of orphans in the world. Millions. There are millions of girls alone in China, left on railways and under bridges and picked up by a worker of an overcrowded orphanage on the outskirts of Chinese cities. Of these millions of girls, only a handful - if that - will ever be adopted. The rest lose hope at around age four. The orphanage has nothing to do but raise the child to work and live in a Chinese factory for the rest of her life.

 

AIDS orphans in Africa, also piling up in the millions.....the girls born to prostitutes in Calcutta. So many millions, hundreds of thousands of millions, and most can't even dream of ever finding a home outside of the shabby huts and delapidated institution buildings they eke a life out of.

 

Even in my own hometown, a local orhanage runs ads on TV for adoptable kids. These are children with smiling, happy photos of them placed on a screen, with a description of how pleasant and wonderful they are - but they're already 10, and the folks at home are too busy thinking about, "Wow, I'll bet he's pretty mentally fucked up at that age" and "but I'd look so goofy with a black kid." Those kids will probably never find homes. They'll never have a family. And yes, they will be mentally fucked up. They'll live thinking that they were unwanted and not good enough and that there must be something wrong with them for nobody to take them in.

 

Do we really want to add to these numbers? Do we want more children out there in these desperate, hopeless situations? Why not fix the lives of the children that are here, that are born and living, rather than produce new unwanted children and make the problem worse.

 

 

 

There's that problem, too. Yes, it's cold to think of life in such terms, but it's true. Not every child given up for adoption is even adopted; from what I understand, the roomie's parents had several foster kids, but only adopted him and the girl who is now his sister. And even though his real parents aren't necessarily fucked-up (his dad's a freakin' millionaire for gods' sakes), he still has some serious issues with his mother having committed suicide when he was a year old. He never knew her; he will most likely never meet his real brothers, because on his mother's side, they've told his sister (the one sibling he has actual contact with) they don't want to meet him at all because of his father. Yes, he was adopted, and yes, his adopted family is great, but even they can't deal with him or his problems; they didn't deal with with his bi-polar depression, they won't even give him a couch to sleep on. He's been homeless in a ditch once or twice, and they still wouldn't let him even spend a night.

 

And how many kids are put into foster care that are abused, unloved, or merely passed from family to family like a nest egg for the check? It's ridiculous and it's sad.

[Taphophilia]

My daughter who is in eighth grade went to school last year with a girl who is now pregnant. She is a tiny girl who weighed maybe 75 pounds and is barely 14 years old. Her parents are against abortion so has to have the baby.