Sexual health charity Marie Stopes will tonight launch the first UK TV commercial to offer advice on abortion services.

The TV ad shown on Channel 4 at 10.10pm tonight, features a number of women from different walks of life who are "late". A voiceover says that being late for a period could mean pregnancy.

"If you're pregnant and not sure what to do Marie Stopes International can help," runs the voiceover. The ad finishes with the strapline "Are you late?"

The controversial campaign, which anti-abortion campaign group Life has said is "grotesque", will not be aired by Channel 4 in Northern Ireland because abortion is still illegal in the province.

Marie Stopes said that the ad, which has been made by ad agency icreate4, will "empower women to reach confident, informed decisions about their sexual health".

"Many will be surprised that only now will the first advert be broadcast on television to give women information about options they have following an unwanted pregnancy," said Naomi Phillips, the head of public affairs at the British Humanist Association.

"It is vital that women with unintended and unwanted pregnancies are able to access, in a timely way, accurate, objective information about all of the options open to them. It seems that television advertising could be an effective way of reaching thousands of such women, and is to be welcomed."

The launch of the ad follows the introduction of new advertising rules by the Advertising Standards Authority.

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