An anti-abortion video titled ‘Obrigado, Mãe’ is at the center of a controversy that has already led to complaints to the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC). The ‘advertisement’, being aired on various channels, is the result of an agreement with Miguel Milhões (Guru Mike Millions), owner of Prozis.
On Monday, the association Escolha filed a complaint with the ERC regarding the anti-abortion video and requested the company that owns the TV channel TVI to suspend its broadcast, said the founder of the organization to the Lusa news agency.
The association, which supports Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVG), argues that broadcasting the video as advertising on TVI “represents a violation of Law No. 27/2007 – Television and On-Demand Audiovisual Services Law”.
Patrícia Cardoso, who founded Escolha a year ago, further noted that the organization has received “many people contacting us to make complaints too” and that they “want to file complaints voluntarily, as well”.
Escolha has also demanded that Media Capital, which owns TVI, “immediately cease the advertising agreement with Miguel Milhões (Guru Mike Millions) and remove any mention of the video clip from the air”.
Video “clearly promotes ‘No’ to Abortion”
According to Escolha, “the video, through a false context surrounding the surgical procedure of IVG, clearly promotes ‘No’ to Abortion, a political issue, and is an attack on the individual freedom of every woman and gestational person“, emphasizing that it is being “broadcast by a high-reach national television channel among children and youth”.
The association states that while the video can be shared “through personal channels (social networks and YouTube)” as “personal artistic material”, it “cannot be allowed to spread such a lie about a procedure guaranteed by Law No. 16/2007, known as the Abortion Law”, as advertising on television.
This audiovisual piece is not just a provocation. It is a violent attack
The Democratic Women’s Movement (MDM) asserts that, to its knowledge, the video began airing on the 25th, “precisely on the day of the Portuguese Cup final, a moment when millions of people were watching television”.
“This audiovisual piece is not just a provocation. It is a violent attack on the right to Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVG), enshrined in Portuguese law after decades of struggle, suffering, and resistance by the women of this country”, the MDM states in a communiqué.
The MDM adds, “under a staged and melodramatic aesthetic, the video emotionally manipulates, distorts the reality of medical facts, and casts a vile moral judgment on women who decide to terminate a pregnancy”.
The association Escolha filed a complaint today with the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC) about an anti-abortion video and requested the company that owns the TV channel TVI to suspend its broadcast, the founder of the organization told the Lusa news agency.
Lusa | 17:03 – 26/05/2025
Women’s Movement also complains: “Gravely violates”
The Democratic Women’s Movement also filed a complaint with the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC) and the Gender Equality Commission about the television broadcast of this anti-abortion video, a leader of the MDM told the Lusa news agency.
Via phone call, Sandra Benfica mentioned that the movement has received “reports since Sunday from people, many people, who saw this advertisement on three channels”, deciding to file complaints “against SIC, RTP, and TVI”.
The MDM argues that the television broadcast of the video, titled ‘Obrigado, Mãe’, “gravely violates” certain legislation, including the Advertising Code, which in “Article 7 prohibits advertising that contains discriminatory or offensive elements, including those that violate the dignity of women” and the Television Law, which “Article 27 states that television content must respect fundamental rights and not promote hate speech or discrimination”.
Similarly, the “Gender Equality Law, which defines that any commercial or advertising communication that perpetuates gender stereotypes or violates women’s rights may be subject to sanction”, was explained by Sandra Benfica.
“The falsehood with which that narrative [presented in the video] is constructed is indeed an absolutely devastating thing, not only in terms of the rights that were so difficult to obtain but actually, it perpetuates a logic of blaming women, holding women accountable, morally offending women“, she further stated.
“Miguel Milhão is a repeat offender in misogynistic discourse”
The video ‘Obrigado, Mãe’ is attributed to Guru Mike Millions, according to his account on the platform YouTube.
Regarding the businessman, who owns a sports nutrition company, the MDM notes in its communiqué that “Miguel Milhão is a repeat offender in his misogynistic, ultra-conservative, and anti-democratic discourse”, considering that “his political and business project is deeply hostile to women’s rights, freedom of choice, and human dignity”.
“He uses economic power to attempt to impose a fundamentalist and obscurantist view of women’s bodies – as if we were the property of the State, religion, or the employer. We are not”, it adds.
Miguel Milhão has not yet commented on the video or his ‘motivations’. He has also not responded to the controversy it has sparked.
The Democratic Women’s Movement filed a complaint today with the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC) and the Gender Equality Commission about the television broadcast of an anti-abortion video, a leader of the MDM told the Lusa news agency.
Lusa | 17:33 – 27/05/2025
ERC receives more than 500 complaints about anti-abortion video
On Tuesday, the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC) revealed that it received more than 500 complaints about the anti-abortion advertisement being broadcast on several channels, an official source from the media regulator told Lusa yesterday.
The Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERC) received more than 500 complaints about an anti-abortion advertisement being broadcast on several channels, an official source from the media regulator told Lusa today.
Lusa | 17:47 – 27/05/2025
