Jessica Simpson's Nude Cover Censored in Arizona

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

The censorship of 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.

 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. 

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.' I guess it's ok to be pregnant, but we should still be ashamed of the female body. All of this enrages me. 

The image of Simpson is a not unlike a famous 1991 Vanity Fair cover in which Demi Moore was photographed nude and pregnant.

That issue of Vanity Fair 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.

Pregnancy is not something to be ashamed of, it's something to be celebrated!!!