Midday Roundup: Doritos ad spoils Super Bowl for abortion supporters

Poor sports. A Super Bowl commercial depicting a pregnant woman’s sonogram rubbed some abortion advocates the wrong way, and they let everyone know on social media. The ad shows a baby in utero reacting when Dad starts munching on Doritos. “‪#NotBuyingIt‪ - that @Doritos ad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses & sexist tropes of dads as clueless & moms as uptight,” tweeted NARAL Pro-Choice America. NARAL panned a number of Super Bowl commercials on Twitter, including one in which comedian Kevin Hart protectively followed his daughter on a date. Doritos found plenty of supporters on social media after NARAL’s potshot. “Uh, fetus is Latin for ‘baby.’ They don’t need to be humanized. We are human at conception,” tweeted R. Scott Clark, a seminary professor and author of The Heidelblog. Doritos seemed unfazed by the criticism; the company tweeteda clip of the baby moving back and forth in the womb with the caption “Touchdown dance.”

Eye in the sky. North Korea’s newest satellite passed over where the Super Bowl was held just an hour after the game ended. North Korea launched the satellite Sunday with a long-range rocket. The United States and its allies considered the rocket launch an act of provocation that violated a ban on ballistic missile testing. North Korea wants to develop a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to the United States, though it claims this weekend’s rocket sent satellites into orbit for monitoring the weather and mapping natural resources. Scientists have not yet picked up signals from the satellite, which could mean it’s not working properly.

Pulled from the rubble. Taiwanese rescuers saved at least four people, including an 8-year-old girl, from a high-rise apartment building that collapsed after a powerful earthquake two days earlier. More than 100 people are still missing. At least 38 people died in Tainan city in southern Taiwan, all but two of them in the collapse of the 17-story building. Even though Saturday’s 6.4-magnitude quake was shallow, few buildings were reported damaged. Taiwan is known to have high building standards, but the toppled high-rise might not have followed them. Rescue workers have reported finding tin cans used as construction fillers in the building’s beams.

Medical bills. President Barack Obama is asking Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to help fight the Zika virus, which causes birth defects and is spreading rapidly through the Americas. In an announcement today, the White House said it wanted the money to expand mosquito control programs, speed development of a vaccine, develop diagnostic tests, and improve support for low-income pregnant women. Spread mainly by mosquitoes, the Zika virus has mild symptoms but can cause microcephaly—an abnormally small head—in babies whose mothers get the virus while pregnant. The administration’s funding request is separate from the budget for the next fiscal year; the White House seeks the Zika money much more quickly than the regular budget process would allow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.