Portugal's ERC moves to fine TVI, CNN, CMTV and News Now over anti‑abortion ad

The Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) has opened contravention proceedings against the broadcasters TVI, CNN Portugal, CMTV and the News Now platform for airing the anti‑abortion video “Obrigado Mãe”. The ads ran in commercial blocks between 25 May and 2 June 2025, reaching roughly 9,500 citizen and association complaints.

ERC says the content was not clearly identifiable as advertising, constituted political promotion of voluntary pregnancy interruption (IVG), and breached both the Television Law’s limits on programming freedom (art. 27) and the Advertising Code. The regulator has referred the matter to the Direção‑Geral do Consumidor for further investigation and is seeking fines ranging from €20,000 to €150,000 per broadcaster. It also warned that the video's online availability could expose children and adolescents to intense, potentially harmful material.