The meaning of abortion cards

“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. … It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience.” —Mother Teresa, Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14

OK, this one takes the proverbial cake. There’s a Bay area nonprofit organization by the name of Exhale which offers post-abortion counseling. As its Web site (www.4exhale.org) puts it, they can “meet women’s after-abortion needs, provide an alternative to politically motivated counseling agencies and create awareness that abortion, and having feelings afterward, is normal in the reproductive lives of women and girls.”

What is so staggering is not that this group offers up counseling. No, they’ve gone one better. They offer greeting cards. Seriously. Greeting cards. Specifically, e-greeting cards for those who’ve had abortions.

One card expresses “sympathy for your loss.” Another expresses encouragement: “I think you did the right thing.”

Still another expresses these thoughts: “I want you to know that I care about you and how you are feeling.” And the spiritual card proclaims that “Healing is possible.”

Well, isn’t this just special? Abortion has officially become a “Hallmark moment.”

Lemme see. We’re at Roe v. Wade‘s 34th year and counting. Roe v Wade, for the uninitiated, would be the made-up constitutional right wherein the United States Supreme Court ruled that a woman may terminate her pregnancy. Unless, of course, you’re an illiterate and otherwise deranged liberal (or feminist), in which case Roe v. Wade really means a woman’s unfettered right to an abortion. (Forget the language in the ruling, we know what the high court really meant.)

But I digress. While abortion on demand is touted as the supreme law of the land among liberals, why all the hoopla for greeting cards and sensitivity? If an abortion is simply the removal of undeveloped cells—and not, say, infanticide—then what’s the big deal? If it’s a woman simply exercising her God-given right, why the “sympathy” and for what “loss?” What spiritual healing is required?

I mean, come on. Since when does one need grief counseling for exercising their constitutional rights? You don’t see this among gun owners. Or others exercising their constitutional rights. Or is there something else behind all this sensitivity and grief? Like say, abortion is a tragedy?

You see, you can’t say it’s a tragedy “but.” The “but” being that abortion should still stay legal. The reason is that the word “but” is the operative of the backspace button. It deletes everything else that has come before it.

So if abortion is a tragedy, or causes grief, then you can’t make a coherent argument to retain it (although, doubtlessly, some will try).

Curiously, however, Exhale had this to say about their counseling services: “At Exhale, we believe there is no ‘right’ way to feel after an abortion. We also know that feelings of happiness, sadness, empowerment, anxiety, grief, relief or guilt are common. Abortion can be hard to talk about, and finding the right person to talk with can be even harder. Exhale provides the opportunity to talk with someone that supports and respects you, in a safe and confidential environment.”

Once again, if there’s no “right” way to feel, then why the need for the cards?

Perhaps more poignant is that there aren’t any cards for the father who has no say in the matter.

Which perhaps brings us back to Mother Theresa.