Anti-abortion ad has sparked outrage
Portugal’s media watchdog has received over 500 complaints about an anti-abortion advertisement currently airing on national television, according to an official source at the Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC).
The controversy centres on a video titled “Obrigado, Mãe” (“Thank You, Mom”), which has been broadcast across TVI, CNN Portugal and CMTV, drawing criticism from viewers, women’s rights groups, and pro-choice advocates. Unlike initial reports suggested, sources from RTP and SIC have confirmed to Lusa news agency they did not air the ad.
Critics accuse the ad of violating several legal protections related to human dignity and women’s rights.
Sandra Benfica, a leading spokesperson for the Democratic Women’s Movement (Movimento Democrático de Mulheres), says the ad may breach the Advertising Code, which bans discriminatory or offensive content, particularly against women’s dignity, as well as the Television Law, which requires “respect for fundamental rights and prohibits hate speech”.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the spokesperson confirmed that MDM has filed a formal complaint to both the ERC and the Commission for Gender Equality.
Benfica added that the ad’s messaging promotes gender stereotypes, moral judgment, and guilt-tripping women over abortion – a medical and legal right in Portugal. “(The video) presents a false narrative that not only undermines rights that were so hard to earn,” she stated.
The backlash has also reached the pro-choice organisation Escolha, which filed a separate complaint with the ERC and demanded that TVI’s parent company, Media Capital, cancel its advertising deal with the creator of the video, entrepreneur Miguel Milhão, also known online as Guru Mike Millions.
Milhão, known for his outspoken views and ownership of a sports nutrition company, has drawn criticism before. In a statement, the MDM described him as a repeat offender in “misogynistic, ultra-conservative, and anti-democratic rhetoric.”
“His political and business project is deeply hostile towards women’s rights, the freedom of choice and human dignity,” the group says.
“He is using economic power to push a fundamentalist, regressive view of women’s bodies,” said MDM. “As if women were state, religious, or corporate property. We are not,” MDM adds.
Updated at 2.49pm
