Regulators have delayed publication of the results of a controversial review of the UK advertising code, which includes proposals that could allow abortion clinics to run TV commercials, until next year after receiving around 4,000 submissions.

A public consultation, which was kicked off by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice in March, sparked mass media coverage as anti-abortion groups and sexual health campaigners moved quickly to criticise some of the proposals.

The review contained further contentious recommendations such as relaxing the ban on condoms being advertised on TV before the 9pm watershed, a move designed to try to reduce teenage pregnancy rates in the UK.

A number of the submissions to Bcap, the body that governs advertising codes relating to TV and radio, and the Committee for Advertising Practice, which looks after non-broadcast media such as posters and newspaper advertising, included petitions with tens of thousands of signatures.

A consultation of this sort would usually only expect to receive perhaps a few hundred responses.

The code review was originally intended to be completed early in the autumn, but the publication date has now been pushed into next year.

"The volume of responses, around 4,000, to the Cap and Bcap code consultation was significant and greater than anticipated. This is perhaps due in part to widespread media coverage around the consultation launch," said a spokesman for the two bodies.

"Cap and Bcap are currently carefully assessing all the responses and anticipate publishing their evaluation of the consultation along with the new advertising codes in the first quarter of 2010," he added.

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