Abortion Clinics Given 'Green Light' for TV Adverts

Private clinics that carry out abortions for profit have received the go-ahead to promote their services with TV and radio adverts.

Until now, restrictions have meant abortion clinics can advertise their services only if they are not run for profit.

Advertising watchdogs have discussed liberalising the rules for several years.

However, their plans to go ahead were delayed in 2009 following a fierce public backlash.

And the only advert that has ever been aired on TV, by charity Marie Stopes International in 2010, it attracted more than 4,500 complaints.

Recent pressure to change the rules came from the Broadcast Committee on Advertising Practice (BCAP) and the Committee on Advertising Practice, bodies made up of advertising industry insiders and commercial broadcasters, who critics say have a financial interest in encouraging advertising.

The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice said it was changing the regulations to be policed by the ASA following a public consulation, suggesting the Department of Health had been invited to respond, but had not done so.

Critics say the reforms risk leaving the UK with among the most liberal advertising rules in the world.

Pro-life campaigners have reacted with dismay, saying the move would trivialise human life by putting the choice to have a termination on a par with buying washing-up liquid or cereal.

• Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is understood to be ‘very unhappy’ about the move, but cannot override the ruling from the independent advertising regulator the Advertising Standards Authority.

• ‘The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children’ argues the “pernicious” change will allow “abortion-peddlers” to “poison our culture.”

Dr Dan Boucher, of the charity CARE, said:

“The idea that abortions should be freely advertised on TV along with toothpaste and breakfast cereal says something very sad about the way in which the values of our consumer culture, of acquiring and disposing, are penetrating our way of life generally, even our approach to life itself.”

• Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said:

“Having an abortion is a deeply traumatic experience that can lead to further medical and physiological complications. A 30-second advert is not the place to discuss and promote this medical procedure.”

• Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who is campaigning to change the law so that women must be referred for independent counselling before a termination, said:

“What this is actually going to do is desensitise what abortion is and the seriousness of it, and making it sounds like it’s as easy as having your lunch.

Broadcasters will be making profit through advertising revenue off the back of a service which ends life. It’s appalling.”

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Many Scripture passages teach us not to deliberately kill innocent human beings (cf. Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 6:16,17; Revelation 21:8; 22:15; Matthew 15:19,20; and Romans 13:8-10).

In addition, please consider these specific passages.

• Psalm 106:37,38: Israel was polluted with blood because the people shed the innocent blood of their “sons and daughters.”

But unborn babies are “sons and daughters.” What then is the condition of our land when over 25 million “sons and daughters” have been legally killed?

• Matthew 2:16: Herod is considered wicked because he slew the male children in Bethlehem.

Luke 2:12,16 calls such children “babes.”

But Luke 1:41,44 also calls unborn children “babes,” so how can it be acceptable to kill them?

• Hosea 13:16; 2 Kings 8:12: When children or infants are dashed to pieces, it is a great tragedy to any nation. Yet unborn babies are children or infants, and in our nation they are dashed to pieces by the millions!

• Acts 7:19; Exodus 1:16-18: Pharaoh commanded that Israelite “sons” or “men children” be killed as soon as they were born.

But these same terms are used for unborn babies. Would it have been acceptable for Pharaoh to have had abortions performed to kill the babies? Is it any less wicked if people today do it?

Tesco Reports Slump in Profits over Last Six Weeks

According to 'Marketwatch,' Tesco PLC warned today (Thursday, 12 January 2012) of minimal profit growth in fiscal 2013 as sales in the U.K. continue to slump and the company is forced to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in trying to boost revenue.

The news sent shares in the retailer down more than 10% in opening trade and at 0807 GMT, Tesco shares were 40 pence lower, down 10.3% at 346 pence.

Tesco reported a 2.3% decline in U.K. same-store sales in the six weeks to Jan. 7, excluding VAT and fuel, a deterioration on third quarter sales which fell 0.9% from a year earlier, despite a major price-cutting campaign.

But while its U.K. difficulties hamper sales at home, its international operations continue to grow, and overall sales rose 5.2%, buoyed by rising petrol prices and continued strong growth in Asia.

Chief Executive Philip Clarke said he was disappointed with the U.K. sales, which were below the company's expectations, particularly because last year's sales were already crimped by heavy snow and transport disruptions.

He said the company planned to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in improving the shopping experience, and will cut capital expenditure on opening large stores to focus on smaller formats and improving already-open stores.

The dire Christmas trading in the U.K. means Tesco's trading profit for fiscal 2012 will be at the low end of consensus although underlying profit before tax and earnings per share will be broadly in line with market expectations, the company said.

However, with substantial investment in the U.K. in fiscal 2013, the company now expects trading profit to show only minimal growth. Chief Finance Officer Laurie McIlwee said the market had been expecting trading profit growth of around 10% in fiscal 2013.

Tesco has already invested GBP500 million in its Big Price Drop campaign, a high-profile cost cutting campaign that has cost the company any growth in U.K. trading profit for the second half of 2012.

Meanwhile ....

J. Sainsbury PLC launched a branded price matching campaign and a new "Live Well For Less" slogan which helped the U.K.'s third largest supermarket chain to report Wednesday a 1.2% rise in third-quarter same-store sales, excluding VAT and fuel.

Meanwhile, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC replied with several cost-saving Christmas options and Monday posted a 0.7% sales rise over the festive season.

Despite better performances, after the Tesco update Thursday Sainsbury shares fell 5.7% to 285 pence and Morrisons shares were down 4.6% at 290 pence.

Tesco CEO Clarke insisted the Big Price Drop campaign was necessary, and blamed the sales decline over Christmas on Tesco's decision not to bombard its customers with money-off coupons, a strategy which some rivals chose.

Alongside the price focus, Clarke said the company will invest hundreds of millions of pounds in improving in-store service and product ranges - in a tacit admission that the company has fallen behind its rivals in the grocery race.

He said the decision to slow down the opening of large superstores, which dedicate massive floor-space to underperforming non-food products, is predicated on a shift to investment in online sales, which can showcase Tesco's entire range of food and non-food without the cost of large stores.

He said the number of store openings planned wouldn't change, implying Tesco remains focused on opening smaller format stores which play to consumers demand for smaller, more frequent and local shopping trips.

Tesco's efforts to lift sales in the U.K. have also been hampered by the company's large exposure to non-food, which has been hit by the decline in spending seen across the retail market for the last year.

Still, Clarke said that while non-food same-store sales continue to decline, the rate had slowed and the trend was improving.

Tesco's U.K. operations accounted for around two thirds of the group's sales and profits last year and, while it has struggled at home, its international business continues to grow.

And Clarke said the cut backs in capital expenditure planned for fiscal 2013 wouldn't affect its international expansion plans.

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COMMENT:

Naturally, we didn't expect any nod of acknowledgement to the fact that, given Tesco's well publicised decision to sponsor homosexual causes (Pride London 2011 and World Pride 2012), many Christians have decided not to do their principal weekly shop in their stores for the foreseeable future.

It is quite remarkable that, despite Tescos best efforts to promote sales and in spite of the extremely favourable weather our country has enjoyed over the course of the past six weeks, the profits of this 'powerful company' have sustained a significant 2.3% decline and 10% has been marked off their shares.

Not that this is a time for us to boast: it is a reminder to us, as well as to Tescos and the vocal minority of sodomite activists within its ranks who crave its financial muscle to be flexed in their interests, that, "The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men" (Psalm 11:4).

Let sinners - and saints - learn to tremble before Him.

Adulterous Liaisons in Northern Ireland

According to 'extramarital dating sites,' the start of any year is prime time for men and women "to sign up to commit adultery."

One such site predicted an increase of 300% in new members at the beginning of 2012. The same site already boasts 43,000 Irish members.

An article carried by the 'Belfast Telegraph' (Thursday, 5 January 2012) outlined the case of one female who signed up to pursue the sin of adultery four years ago - "because she felt that after 13 years and a child together, her relationship had 'lost its spark'."

Since April past she has been engaged in a full-blown 'affair.'

However, despite the attraction of adultery, she fondly imagines that her sin will have little consequences:

"I've no doubt he loves me and I love him dearly. I don't want to break up our family and I couldn't break his heart by walking away ... .

I don't feel guilty because I can compartmentalise the two things. Being discovered scares men, but I believe that what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over."

Those who maintain these websites and so cash in on the sins of others (cf. Romans 1:32) clearly see no need for repentance. One spokesperson advanced:

"With websites the fate element is removed: people have to fill in a lengthy profile and face a lot of barriers. We're forcing people to question what they're doing in a way they wouldn't do in real life."

In case they believe their own excuses - and really are as morally bankrupt as the adulterers they facilitate, God's Word delivers a pertinent paragraph, or two:

"My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!"

(Proverbs 5:1-13).

And again:

"Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness" (Proverbs 30:20).