Reaching out and touching one another like this is a healthy, connective means of strengthening the bonds of society.  We lift each other up when dark days come and give each other an endorphin-laden belly laugh in the good times.

    One of the axiomatic requirements of a ‘lift you up’ card is mutual acknowledgement that the dark days are indeed here.  Something is missing; something bad has happened; there’s reason to be saddened.

    Planned Parenthood is the major provider of abortions in the United States.  Founded in 1916 by Margaret Sanger, a nurse who advocated eugenics—the study and control of the gene pool in an effort to bring about the removal of "human weeds" (Sanger’s term) such as Negroes and the products of rampant "reckless breeding" and "dysgenic breeding" (again, her terms)—Planned Parenthood advocates for unlimited access to abortion up to the very instant of the birth of a fully-formed, healthy human being.  They’ve been very effective in the black community, thus advancing Margaret Sanger's dream: three out of five pregnancies of black women in America end in abortion.  At that rate, blacks are indulging in mindless self-elimination as a race.

    Planned Parenthood tells prospective abortion prospects—from whom Planned Parenthood grows demonstrably wealthy—that abortion solves problems without guilt.

    For example, Planned Parenthood’s website states emphatically that abortion does not increase the risk of breast cancer.  But any objective scientist will be quick to back away from that statement, as there are significant studies which assert exactly the opposite.  The number of such studies is increasing each year.

    Planned Parenthood’s website assures abortion prospects who are concerned that their baby might find the act of having its limbs ripped from its body as it is sucked out of the womb somewhat painful that "We know for sure that the embryo or fetus cannot perceive pain in the nearly 99 percent of all abortions that occur before the 20^th week of pregnancy."  On the contrary, advances in the study of fetal development have clearly demonstrated that the fetus has all its organs, limbs, features, and systems fully in place by the 20^th week, and the last four months of pregnancy are days of growth. Thus the fully-formed nervous system of the fetus who is being dismembered screams with signals of agony to the quite functional brain.

    Planned Parenthood uses these outright falsehoods and distortions in its literature to create the assurance that abortion is a mere inconvenience, no more disturbing to mother and baby than a slight headache. One of its most egregious lies is the statement "Some people who oppose a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions claim that abortion often causes long-lasting emotional problems, or ‘post-abortion syndrome.’ There is no scientific proof for these claims."

    No proof? Consider the 1998 study by the Elliott Institute. They conducted a survey of 260 women—a considerable and quite valid universe in statistical terms—who had their abortion, on average, 10.6 years prior to the study. They were all volunteers who were seeking post-abortion counseling after suffering from significant (requiring counseling and/or therapy) post-abortion syndrome:

• 92% reported permanent "emotional deadening", a deliberate ploy to stifle their emotions rather than allow themselves to feel the guilt of what they had done
• 86% reported an increased tendency toward anger or rage, with 48% confessing a tendency toward violence when provoked to anger for any reason
• 86% reported a fear of others learning about their abortion
• 86% had a general sense of fear of the future or the unknown
• 82% had strong feelings of loneliness or isolation
• 75% had considerably diminished self-confidence
• 73% suffered from sexual dysfunction
• 58% suffered from post-abortion insomnia or nightmares involving a baby
• 57% reported significant difficulty in developing or maintaining relationships with both sexes
• 56% had considered suicide, with 28% actually attempting it
• 53% had begun or increased the use of drugs and/or alcohol post-abortion
• 39% experienced eating disorders post-abortion

The Elliott Institute does stipulate that the control group was composed of women who were in counseling due to their abortion and "may not be representative of the entire universe of women who have had abortions, of which very little is known."  The fact is, as pastors and psychologists across the country will attest, post-abortion syndrome is felt in varying degrees by millions of post-abortive women.

    But there is hope for these women and, by implication, the enormous number of other post-abortion women who suffer in silence with shattered lives.  Now an Oakland-based organization called "Exhale" is offering a series of electronic greeting cards which friends can send to a post-abortive woman.  It prescribes soothing messages such as "You did the right thing," and "As you grieve, remember you are loved."  The classic is "God will never leave you or forsake you."

    Why would a right created out of thin air by seven Supreme Court judges in 1973 cause such anguish—which Planned Parenthood vehemently denies—and the thought that the post-abortive woman would need sympathy?  Does expressing your right to free speech or to assemble with others cause depression?  How about your right to bear arms?  Or not to have to shelter soldiers?  Is there a significant possibility of feelings of fear, loneliness, diminished self-confidence, or increased anger among those who exercise their right to a trial by jury?  Do those who practice freedom of religion tend toward suicide?

    Abortion is murder. That’s reality. To deny it with glib phrases and electronic happy cards is the equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and gibbering "I can’t hear you!" when post-abortion syndrome rears its ugly head.  The British philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) said "The ultimate effect of shielding men (and women) from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."   Planned Parenthood is doing its best to induce pregnant women to make the foolish decision to murder their baby.

    Hallmark and its competitors in the greeting card industry should look into happy cards for post-abortion syndrome. More than thirty million women need them, some very desperately.

Posted by Hale Meserow
March 19, 2007