Pregnant Jessica Simpson's nude magazine cover is censored by grocery store

Pregnant Jessica Simpson's nude magazine cover is censored by grocery store

By Olivia Fleming

PUBLISHED: 15:07 EST, 22 March 2012 | UPDATED: 15:24 EST, 22 March 2012

A magazine cover featuring a pregnant Jessica Simpson posing nude has been censored in an Arizona grocery store.

The new issue of Elle was partially obscured at the Safeway in Tuscon by a piece of cardboard bearing the words: 'Please do not remove cardboard'.

Even though the star's pose carefully obscured anything that might be considered indecent, the store deemed it unsuitable for all audiences.

Censored: A grocery store in Arizona blocked what they determined to be a scandalous Elle cover featuring the pregnant body of Jessica Simpson

Censored: A grocery store in Arizona blocked what they determined to be a scandalous Elle cover featuring the pregnant body of Jessica Simpson

An image of the notice was taken by a shopper, who sent it to women's news site Jezebel.

The censorship of Miss Simpson's pregnant body is ironic given that a female Arizona state official today announced that she wants to force women to watch videos of an abortion before getting one.

And last week, it was reported that a proposed new law would give Arizona employers the power to request that women being prescribed birth control pills provide proof that they're using it for non-sexual reasons.

As Jezebel noted, these discussions regarding women's reproduction in Arizona portray the state as being very pro-pregnancy.

Posing pregnant: Jessica Simpson posed nude for Elle magazine's April 2012 issue, which was censored on the stand of an Arizona grocery store

Posing pregnant: Jessica Simpson's pregnant nude pose is a tribute to Demi Moore's Vanity Fair cover in 1991

They commented: 'It's curious that this red state grocery store finds the physical manifestation of God's greatest gift to women (whether they want it or not) so offensive that it warrants being covered up.'

The image of Miss Simpson is a parody of a famous 1991 Vanity Fair cover in which Demi Moore was photographed nude and pregnant.

It was banned and censored on many American newsstands, setting off national debate on motherhood, feminism and beauty.

Now, it seems the pose, a celebration of a woman's pregnant body, is still causing controversy twenty years later - despite countless other celebrities copying the Vanity Fair cover too.

Facebook also recently pulled a profile portrait of a naked and pregnant British woman who had adopted the nude pose.

The site's censorship prompted users to create a group on the site titled 'Pregnancy Bared Is Not Obscene! - The Naked Truth' which had over 200 members before it was taken down.

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