Horrifying Pro-Life Campaign Ads from DC’s Candidate for Congress, Missy Smith

Late last night before getting to bed, I flipped on the TV and caught the end of David Letterman’s Interview with Johnny Knoxville, star of the new movie Jackass 3D. One minute I was laughing at the clip of Knoxville’s valiant attempt to roller skate through a buffalo herd, and the next, I was watching what was quite possibly one of the most disturbing, disgusting, absolutely unbelievable campaign ads I have ever seen. It honestly made me sick to my stomach.

Missy Smith, a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in DC, has created, not one, but two horrific advertisements to support her pro-life fueled campaign. The ads, which began airing on basic cable networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) Tuesday night, will continue running through the week during various popular programs such as Oprah, The Late Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, and more. The ads are posted on her website, missysmith2010.com, where she also proudly flaunts her ties to the Tea Party.

Possibly for the best, the videos will not embed into the post, but here are some stills from opposingviews.com:

“How,” I asked myself after watching the ad, “can basic cable networks allow this to be shown?” Apparently it’s not exactly up to them; it’s the law.

According to an article from the DC Wire, a blog on washingtonpost.com, “Jerry Fitz, a lawyer for Allbritton Communications, which owns WJLA (Channel 7), told Politico’s Ben Smith on Friday that the “Communications Act requires broadcast stations to sell ‘reasonable amounts’ of ad time to qualified federal candidates and bars stations from making any changes to those spots, in what’s known as the ‘no censorship’ provision.”

It seems, however, that some stations have taken measures to warn their viewers of the disturbing content in the ads:

” A spokesman for WRC (Channel 4) told the Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis that federal regulations require it to show an ad it received from Smith. But WRC plans to air a message preceding the ad, warning viewers that it contains “extremely graphic images.” (DC Wire)

Looks as though viewers may not be able to avoid them for a couple days.

The morbidly impassioned pro-life ads seem to suggest that the number of abortions in DC are completely out of control, when in fact, DC has some of the lowest numbers of abortions reported. According to Washingtonian’s Capital Comment Blog, “In 2006, the last year for which data is available, doctors reported performing 2,692 abortions in the District. By contrast, that same year, doctors performed 27,349 abortions in Virginia. And Maryland doctors performed 9,530 abortions.” After hearing these statistics, Smith’s ads seem even more over-dramatic.

The ads also appear to suggest that ALL abortions occur later in pregnancies, in the Fetal period (10th week of gestation period- birth), when in fact most occur during the Embryonic period (1st week of gestation period-8th week of gestation period). Jezebel commented: “The images are the standard ones you see protesters wield outside clinics, where it’s not clear that the bloodied fetuses, which are in very late stages of development, even have anything to with abortions. A reminder: 88 percent of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks, and 62 percent before nine weeks.” (Guttmacher Institute, guttmacher.org)

As for DC, the DC Wire also reports that, “The vast majority of abortions performed in the District in 2006, 1,783, occurred in the first eight weeks of gestation. 294 occurred between nine and ten weeks of gestation, 165 between 11 and 12 weeks, 226 between 13 and 15 weeks, 214 between 16 and 20 weeks and none were performed more than 20 weeks into gestation.” (Data gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The images shown in these ads are not only extremely detrimental to women’s progress in gaining the right to choose, but they are just downright uncalled for. This is yet another shameless attempt by the Tea Party to persuade voters by evoking disgust, shock and fear.  After viewing these ads, anyone, including children, who has not had the fortune of being educated about abortion issues, will be left with a tragically misinformed perspective on abortion. These reprehensible tactics should remind us of how important it is to make efforts to keep ourselves, and others, correctly informed about important issues.

-Lauranium