It's pro-choice or no choice. It's a strong message, offering a perspective not often heard on network television. Because these commercials take an advocacy position on the subject of abortion, they are unacceptable for broadcast on the CBS television network. The answers to this question were alarming. To PEP director Marion Sullivan, this skewed rationale stings.
Ultimately feminism is about giving women a choice, because they know what's best for their bodies.
It's not an equal playing field. PEP's inability to compete on the commercial landscape is all the more glaring considering that news outlets rarely allow reproductive rights advocates to define the terms of the abortion debate. Rather, coverage often reduces choice supporters' views to brief or angry soundbites, typically responsive in nature. PEP's ads represented an opportunity for advocates to offer an unapologetic, self-defined message to the public. In a media climate dominated by commercial interests, it is striking that organizations favoring women's reproductive rights cannot even purchase time to contribute their points of view to a debate of social importance.