More useful, though, is to promote the full spectrum of prevention and contraception–where to get it, how to get it, and why you need it. Which will no more encourage more teens to have sex (like they need any encouragement anyway) than flu shots encourage people to lick doorknobs.

And I may be odd duck here, but I’m not worried about people who use abortion as contraception or have multiple abortions. First and foremost–it’s none of my business why another woman seeks an abortion, and it’s none of my business how many she’s had before or why. As long as her health isn’t at serious risk, and as long as she made her own decisions about it, it’s between her and her doctor.

Even a kid knows over here in the UK that all they need to do is get themselves to the GP and they will sort it all out. It’s unnecessary to advertise on TV as well.

Unfortunately, I get the impression that not a lot of time or effort is given to non-religious advice on adoption. It’s as if abortion or keeping the baby are seen as the only options these days.

if someone is stupid enough to have multiple unplanned pregnancies when she really can’t afford it/is in a shitty relationship/knows she doesn’t want children, then I really don’t want to see her trying to raise a child.

Another brilliant point. The very people we worry about using abortion as birth control are likely the folks we don’t want informing the next generation anyway.

The Dutch run similar ads in the media – and they have the lowest incidence of teen pregnancy/abortion in the developed world. I couldn’t find the research paper I read last year, but here is a link to a wiki page with similar information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_incidence_of_teenage_pregnancy#Netherlands

Here is an example of a billboard the Dutch use – I took a picture of it in Rotterdam Central train station last year and posted it on my blog.

http://michellecunnah.com/blog/2008/10/abstinence-only/

I don’t know if there is a direct corelation between the Dutch ads and the lower teen pregnancy/abortion rates, but I think it’s worth trying in the UK.

That doesn’t make much sense to me. Abortion may be recommended for medical reasons — to save the life of the mother, for example — but it’s not primarily a medical decision. A doctor can’t make that kind of decision for you.

But she’d done a stint as a aide of some sort at a birth control clinic when I was an early teen and her stories her stuck with me.

She told me about girls of 12 and 13 coming in for their 3rd or 4th (or higher) abortion because welfare paid for abortions, but not birth control.

She also told lurid stories about little hands and feet floating in pans of blood that she had to dispose of. Abortion is a medical procedure that has very real consequences. (And I’m not trying to imply that any one here thinks differently – it’s just a topic I feel strongly about).

I know abortion has a place in our society, but I’d prefer it be a well-thought-out medical choice, not a choice made because a commercial has stuck in someone’s head!

I’m with the posters who’ve said they’d really prefer to see realistic ads for birth control and condom use. Let the doctors recommend the medical procedures when they’re necessary.