EWTN's coverage on NBC refusing pro-life ad

Irondale, AL (EWTN) – See the pro-life commercial NBC refused to air during the Super Bowl on EWTN Global Catholic Network this Sunday Feb. 1, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET and continuing through midnight ET.

The commercial, sponsored by Fidelis and catholicvote.com, centers around the theme: “Life: Imagine the Potential.” It will begin airing during “Faith Bowl II,” an annual Family Theatre made-for-television special, which analyzes the role that the Catholic/Christian Faith plays in professional and collegiate sports. This year, Major League Baseball’s Mark Loretta of the Los Angeles Dodgers will guest along with former professional soccer player Antonio Soave.

The commercials will continue throughout EWTN’s Sunday evening lineup, including the shows with popular series Hosts Father Benedict Groeschel and Father John Corapi, and will conclude at midnight ET.

EWTN also aired this powerful commercial several times during its extensive coverage of the March for Life; an event which has been boycotted by virtually every mainstream media outlet in the country, despite the fact that every year it is Washington, D.C.’s largest march.

The commercial can also be viewed on EWTN’s pro-life webpage, www.ewtn.com/prolife, after 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, and, of course, on www.catholicvote.com.

What follows are the words that flash across the screen over a picture of an ultrasound during the must-see pro-life commercial: “This child’s future is a broken home, he will be abandoned by his father, his single mother will struggle to raise him, despite the hardships he will endure, this child will become the 1st African-American president. Life, imagine the potential.”

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 28th year, is available in over 148 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com and publishing arm, EWTN, is the largest religious media network in the world.

NBC rejects pro-life ad

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- NBC is coming under fire from pro-life advocates for rejecting a television commercial a pro-life group hoped to run during the Super Bowl. The ad shows a beautiful picture of an unborn child during an ultrasound and asks what would happen if President Barack Obama had been a victim of abortion.
The commercial, a popular one in recent weeks within the pro-life movement, is sponsored by the pro-life Catholic group Fidelis and its CatholicVote web site.

After several days of negotiations, an NBC representative in Chicago told the group late yesterday that NBC and the NFL are not interested in advertisements involving "political advocacy or issues."

Brian Burch, president of the pro-life group, told LifeNews.com he is upset that NBC officials rejected what he calls a uplifting and positive pro-life ad.

“There is nothing objectionable in this positive, life-affirming advertisement. We show a beautiful ultrasound, something NBC’s parent company GE has done for years," Burch said.

"We congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the first African-American President. And we simply ask people to imagine the potential of every human life," he told LifeNews.com.

Burch said NBC told Fidelis that they do not allow political or issue advocacy advertisements.

"But that’s not what they told PETA," he said about the network's recent decision to reject an ad from the animal rights group. “There’s no doubt that PETA is an advocacy group. NBC rejected PETA’s ad for another reason altogether.”

(Continued here with info on how to respond)