During the final weekend of the World Cup, an advertisement highlighting the existence of abortion survivors aired internationally with the support of boxer and 2022 presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao.

Key Takeaways:

• Faces of Choice is an organization dedicated to bringing the world face to face with abortion survivors.

• An ad from the group ran during the final weekend of the World Cup after it was previously blocked from airing during the Super Bowl six years ago.

The Details:

The Faces of Choice commercial aired internationally during the World Cup's final weekend, according to Lyric Gillett, the founder and executive director of the organization of the same name.

"Beyond the international airing, the ad campaign reached a confirmed seven-figure audience across social media, with continued engagement around Manny's advocacy and the survivors’ stories," she told Live Action News.

The ad featured Pacquiao, an outspoken advocate for life, and the stories of men, women, and a child who survived abortions. The goal of Faces for Choice is to "bring the world face to face with abortion survivors," who are often dismissed as non-existent.

"Can you look at them and say they shouldn't exist?" asks Pacquiao in the ad. "'Choice' is a person with a name, a face, and a story."

"We are the survivors of choice," the ad states. "We are the faces of choice."

Manny Pacquiao's World Cup Ad: Can You Face These Abortion Survivors?

Featured survivors in the ad were Josiah Presley, who was born in South Korea after a failed D&C abortion that injured his left arm; Melissa Ohden, CEO of the Abortion Survivors Network, who survived a saline abortion; and Lauren Eden, who survived a D&E abortion.

Eden previously told Live Action News that her mother tried six times to abort her.

Other participants were Paula Page, Hope Hoffman, Dr. Imre Téglásy, Lisa Manasco, Asiimwe Ronald Williams, Robin Sertell, Jennifer Milbourn, Denisha Workizer, and Zechariah Hagan.

"It was deeply meaningful to see this message step onto the world stage, and this is just the beginning for us," Gillett told Live Action News.

Six years ago, a Faces for Choice ad was blocked from airing during the Super Bowl just days before the game.

The Bottom Line:

Though it does not track or publish data on abortion survivors, in 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that over the course of 12 years, more than a hundred infants were reported to have survived for at least a short time after abortions.

With the high rate of incomplete abortions associated with the abortion pill and the online availability of the drugs, more babies could survive abortions. A teen couple in North Carolina is currently facing charges after the girlfriend took the abortion drugs at 31 weeks gestation and gave birth to a live baby on a toilet. Someone called 911, and first responders pulled the baby out of the toilet and discovered a pulse.

This is not the first time such a tragic situation has occurred, and these are likely to happen even more often because of how easy it is to access the abortion pill without proper medical supervision.