Week of Life caused quite a stir in the Netherlands

During the March for Life, organised every year by a foundation called "Schreeuw om Leven" (Shout for Life), organisations stand up for unborn life. In connection with the Week for Life, which traditionally precedes the march, pro-life commercials were shown and heard on Dutch radio and television stations last week. In those spots, three women asked for attention for the "little boss in your belly". It was a reference to the well-known slogan saying that women are "boss in own belly (baas in eigen buik)" by Dutch pro-abortionists.

Complaints

The commercials were not well received by everyone. Two DJs from national radio station 3FM even shouted through the commercials as they were being broadcast, Dutch newspaper Reformatorisch Dagblad reports. One of them spoke of a "typhus commercial". The presenters' dissatisfaction was not the only sound against the Week for Life campaign.

The Advertising Code Committee –the Dutch body for self-regulation of advertising– received more than 800 complaints about the commercials of Platform Care for Life ("Platform Zorg voor Leven").

die lui van de Week van het Leven geven geen reet om ongeboren leven -of vrouwenrechten- maar willen jun interpretatie van de bijbel doordrukken uit machtsoverwegingen. en anders ben je niet zo compassieloos. dat is wat anders. mag, maar wees daar gewoon eerlijk over dan.

— Tim Hofman (@debroervanroos) November 10, 2021

These complaints were partly the result of an appeal on Twitter by Dutch programme maker Tim Hofman, Reformatorisch Dagblad writes in another article. He called the advertisements on radio and television misleading. "Those people from the Week of Life don't care about unborn life –or women's rights– but want to push their interpretation of the Bible for reasons of power," tweets Hofman. "Otherwise, you are not so compassionless." Hofman discusses the pro-life campaign in his series BOOS (Angry).

Breach of contract

The Platform Care for Life has filed a complaint with 3FM. "This is a form of breach of contract," says chairman Diederik van Dijk. "We are not looking for a fight. But we have paid a lot for broadcasting the commercials. They were partly unintelligible due to the actions of the presenters. That is a form of breach of contract. We want to hear from 3FM how they compensate us and what consequences they attach to the actions of the DJs."

When asked what Van Dijk expects in concrete terms, the platform chairman replied: "When I think of compensation, I think of repeating the commercials or partially refunding the money paid. Consequently, the broadcaster will have a stern talk with the presenters as far as I am concerned. Their actions are not decent and unprofessional. Van Dijk himself is also open to talking to the DJs. "We would like to speak to everyone.

March

After all the criticism, the annual March for Life on Saturday was remarkably quiet from the pro-abortion movement. Only a handful of demonstrators showed up. They did not make it too difficult for the participants in the silent march through the centre of The Hague, Reformatorisch Dagblad writes.

"In previous years, demonstrators sometimes shouted at us. Now there was not a single insulting word. People looked on with interest”, says Van Dijk, who is also director of the Dutch Patients Association NPV, a pro-life movement that forms ideas about medical developments from the perspective of Christian ethics.

Perhaps the low turnout of counterdemonstrators is due to the commotion that was already there last week. "The counter-reaction to our radio commercial was again hysterical, many people thought. The criticism may have caused a tipping point. Sympathy may have shifted more towards the pro-life side."

Corona

Five hundred people took part in the march. It could have been many more, but it was not more than five hundred because of the corona. That is still 450 more than last year when only 50 people could come to The Hague. The year before, in Utrecht, there were more than ten thousand.

Although the authorities tightened the corona reins last Friday again, that was no reason for the organisation to reduce the number of participants, says spokesman Chris Develing to Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad. He said the organisation would tell several times that everyone must adhere to all the rules.