Pro-life activists and a local station in B.C. are courting controversy with a graphic anti-abortion ad. The 60-second spot — entitled ‘Everyone Against Abortion, Please Raise Your Hand’ — includes the image of an adult hand holding the detached arm of an aborted fetus, and begins airing this week on CHBC in Kelowna.

‘To tell the truth, we didn’t think the TV station would approve this ad,’ says Marlon Bartram, executive director of Kelowna Right to Life, the 400-member group that placed the spot, which was also okayed by the Television Bureau of Canada. ‘But we thought it doesn’t hurt to ask, and I was quite pleasantly surprised.’

He hopes to keep it running ‘for at least six months.’ The spot was produced by the U.S. group Priests for Life and is thought to mark the first time that the remains of an aborted fetus have been shown on Canadian television. (See the spot.)

‘We’re just going to run the ads on a continuous basis until we run out of money,’ Bartram tells Playback Daily, or until it is pulled because of complaints. The ad is one of four that the group is currently running on the Global affiliate which, in total, are scheduled to air about 30 to 40 times per month says Bartram.

Pro-choice and sexual health advocates have spoken out against the ad, saying its graphic imagery does little to advance the argument over abortion, and risks inciting violence against health care workers and women seeking abortions.

The ad is expected to make a stir. ‘I think we’d be foolish to think there’s not going to be some sort of commentary,’ says John Ridley, director of marketing and community relations at Global B.C. ‘But we rely very heavily on Telecaster,’ a branch of the Television Bureau, ‘to vet material that some consumers might find offensive.’

He expects the ad will run in the ‘watershed’ hours between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., so as not to be seen by young children.