THE UK’s first TV ad campaign for abortion services airs tonight on Channel 4 at 10.10pm – and the fundies are besides themselves with rage.

Ahead of the screening of the Marie Stopes International (MSI) ad, the Christian Institute garnered a fine crop of foam-flecked comments from furious religious opponents.

Said Anthony Ozimic, a spokesman for Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC):

Abortion ads will trivialise abortion. It is an insult to the hundreds of women hurt by abortion every day. Such ads are offensive and will mislead viewers about the reality of abortion.

Michaela Aston, from the “pro-life” charity Life, wailed:

To allow abortion providers to advertise on TV, as though they were no different from car companies or detergent manufacturers, is grotesque. By suggesting that abortion is yet another consumer choice, it trivialises human life and completely contravenes the spirit of the 1967 Abortion Act, which was supposed to allow for a small number of legal abortions in a limited number of hard cases, but has been twisted and distorted to allow for mass abortion on demand.

Even Vivianne Pattison, chairman of the failed radio and television watchdog Mediawatch UK, scrambled onto the bandwagon, lamely declaring:

We are not a pro-life group but we do have issues with this because women with an unplanned pregnancy are in a vulnerable position.

And Norman Wells, Director of the Family Education Trust, said:

Every abortion involves a personal tragedy for a mother and a child which will have lasting consequences whether immediately felt or not.

The ProLife Alliance, which claims that the advert breaks broadcasting guidelines, said:

The purpose of an abortion commercial is clearly to â€˜sell’ abortion. This is hardly conducive to making the â€˜informed sexual health choices’ which Marie Stopes claims to provide.

But Marie Stopes Marketing Director, Julie Douglas, hit back, saying:

This ad is all about providing information so women have the confidence to know who they can call to reach people who will be non-judgmental.

The advert will not be screened in Northern Ireland, as abortion is illegal in the province.