Viewers across the country were shocked when anti-trans and anti-abortion ads appeared during the World Series, graphically depicting images of alleged aborted fetuses.

The ads, stemming from Constitution Party presidential candidate Randall Terry, aired on local news stations tied to FOX and ABC. These local affiliates had to air on-screen content warnings for the ads, especially after many viewers called in to complain about what was depicted.

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One ad, dubbed “World Series Baby,” shows Terry speaking to a camera followed by multiple images of what is implied to be aborted fetuses, many of which are covered in blood.

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“Killing babies by abortion is on the ballot in 10 states,” Terry says in the ad. “Jesus said what we do to children we do to him. A vote for these laws or Kamala is a vote to kill Jesus in the womb.”

The other ad, dubbed “Heartbroken,” depicts Terry’s Vice Presidential candidate, Stephen Broden, a far-right Christian pastor who has worked to appeal to anti-abortion Black voters. It shows him speaking to a camera amid uncredited images of drag queens, children, and graphically aborted fetuses.

Broden says, “As a Black pastor, I’m heartbroken of what has been done to us by Democrats. They pimped us to get votes by blowing the dog whistle of racism. They have drag queens reading filth to our children, grooming them for sexual exploitation, mutilating their genitals, pushing same-sex marriage, killing our babies by the millions, [and] seducing us to destroy our families for a welfare check. Don’t vote for Kamala [Harris] or any Democrat.”

No context is given for any of the images. According to the FCC, broadcasters are legally required to air political ads because advertisements for political candidates cannot be censored or altered in the majority of cases.

Terry is an anti-abortion activist known for founding Operation Rescue, a far-right Christian extremist group known for violent actions against abortion clinics and LGBTQ+ organizations. Such actions taken by far-right Christian extremists against these groups have included protesting abortion clinics so ruthlessly that members of the group got arrested, storming a school to get them to cancel a Gay-Straight Alliance, blockading abortion clinics, and even killing people or committing arson.

Anti-trans ads are wildly unpopular with the public, however they do run the risk of increasing anti-trans sentiment across the country. Polls show that most voters find them unappealing and do not alter their voting habits because of them, but voters may increasingly view transgender individuals negatively because of them.

In a statement to LGBTQ Nation, Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf said that negative campaign ads “pit neighbors against one another and try to divide our communities because they don’t have a vision for lifting people up or bringing the nation together.”

“One election after another, voters have rejected their anti-tans attacks. But hate has consequences,” Wolf continued. “The latest FBI data shows a surge in hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people, there continues to be a scourge of violence against Black transgender women, and a recent Trevor Project study showed that states passing anti-transgender laws saw a sharp decline in the mental health of transgender youth. These vile attacks may be a loser at the ballot box, but they come with shameful costs to the health, wellbeing, and safety of transgender people across the country.”

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