Fourteen complaints had been made against the claim alleging that it could not be substantiated. However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed the complaints stating that the assertion was not misleading and there was a "reasonable probability" it was largely accurate.
A Pro-life lobby group called Both Lives Matter (BLM) had run the billboard campaign. BLM, while acknowledging that it was not possible to calculate an exact figure, claimed that 100,000 represented a credible and conservative estimate. This calculation was based on a comparison with Scotland's abortion ratio.
