A new pro-life ad is set to hit a huge global stage during the final World Cup matches, and it uses one of boxing’s most recognizable names to make its point. Manny Pacquiao appears alongside abortion survivors from around the world in a message from Faces of Choice that pushes viewers to see the human side of the issue, not just the politics around it.
The spot opens with Pacquiao asking whether people can look into the eyes of abortion survivors and tell them they “shouldn’t exist.” From there, the ad brings in survivors who ask a sharp, painful question of their own: could anyone look at them and say they “didn’t deserve to survive.” The message lands hard because it frames abortion not as an abstract argument, but as something tied to real lives, real faces, and real stories.
Faces of Choice says the ad has already been approved for airing, but there is still a funding gap if it is going to make it onto screens during the final two World Cup games. That timing matters, since the final weekend is one of the most-watched stretches in sports, with a massive worldwide audience tuned in and paying attention. For a group trying to put a human face on its cause, that kind of exposure is the whole game.
In the ad, Pacquiao and the survivors drive home a central idea: “choice” is not just a slogan. It is “a person, with a name, a face, and a story,” and that line gives the whole campaign its emotional spine.
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“We are the survivors of choice … We are the faces of choice,” the survivors state in the ad.
Faces of Choice founder Lyric Gillett said the goal is not to win a debate with clever lines or polished talking points. “My hope is that when the world sees these men and women, something deeper than opinion will be awakened,” Gillett told EWTN News. “Not because people hear a new argument but because they find a human being looking back at them.”
The approach is simple, but it hits where these debates often get uncomfortable. It asks viewers to stop talking in broad terms for a second and actually look at the people living with the consequences of abortion policies and culture. That kind of direct appeal can be unsettling, which is probably why it gets attention fast.
Faces of Choice has done this before. A previous television spot featured 14 abortion survivors and was launched around the 2020 National March for Life, where it drew its own wave of interest.
The group later tried to place that ad during the Super Bowl, but the effort ran into a wall. Fox Sports Network allegedly delayed the process for months before ultimately blocking the commercial just days before Super Bowl Sunday, turning what should have been a media opportunity into another flashpoint in the larger fight over who gets to speak and where.
That history gives the new World Cup effort a little more weight. It is not just another ad buy, but part of a longer push to keep abortion survivors visible in places where millions of people are already watching. For supporters, that visibility is the whole point, because stories that stay hidden never have much chance to challenge anyone.
The current campaign leans on a mix of star power and testimony, and that combination is exactly what makes it hard to ignore. Pacquiao brings instant recognition, while the survivors bring something even stronger: lived experience that cannot be faked, softened, or edited into something neat and comfortable.
With the World Cup finale approaching, the ad’s future comes down to whether enough money comes in to lock in the placement. If it does, the message will land in one of the biggest advertising windows on the planet, where it will be hard for anyone to scroll past, tune out, or pretend they did not hear it.
