No peace over Planned Parenthood's holiday card

[Guest cynicalprofit]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/03/...tmas/index.html

No peace over Planned Parenthood's holiday card

 

By Sean Loughlin

CNN Washington Bureau

 

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) --A holiday card by the nation's largest abortion-rights group is under fire from some groups that say it is offensive and reflects an anti-religious bigotry.

 

The card, offered by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, features the words "Choice on Earth" against a blue backdrop with white snowflakes. Inside it reads, "Warmest wishes for a peaceful holiday season."

 

It's the phrase on the card's cover -- a twist on the biblical "Peace on Earth" -- that has angered some groups that oppose abortion.

 

"The group twists a well-known Scripture in which God offers peace on earth -- not abortion -- through the birth of his son, Jesus Christ," said a statement by Wendy Wright, senior policy director at Concerned Women for America. "Planned Parenthood officials are too hardened by their mission of profiting from abortion to see that Christmas itself flies in the face of all they stand for."

 

The Family Research Council blasted the card as a "grotesque mangling" of the story of Jesus' birth and called on Planned Parenthood to withdraw it.

 

"To celebrate abortion at the season when Christians worldwide remember the birth of the Savior is just plain sick," read a statement from the group.

 

Planned Parenthood called the criticism "absurd," and said it comes from groups that want to shut it down.

 

The card "sends an inclusive seasonal message for people of all faiths," the organization said in a statement. It has been available in past years, Planned Parenthood said.

 

Since the criticism began in late November, Planned Parenthood said, its card sales have risen, prompting extra card printings. The organization also is selling T-shirts with the words "Choice on Earth."

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/03/...tmas/index.html

 

 

Thoughts?

[Guest Ozymandias]

I guess they never heard of abortion before. *shrugs*

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

I hate the religious bullshit running rampant through today's society, and I don't hate Planned Parenthood either, but I can't stand with them in this one.

 

They went and referenced a line out of the Bible in celebration of a holiday, that in that same book, is supposed to celebrate a child birth.

 

It hurts to say it, but the religious types are right this time.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

It isn't really celebrating abortion. It's celebrating the right to choose, not neccesarily abortion itself. Choice isn't just abortions, it's also birth control pills, condoms, and just about every other way to prevent giving birth at some point. What if they'd said "Life on Earth" and the Planned Parenthood folk got cheesed? Besides, Peace on Earth has become a pretty universal saying, not confined to merely Christians. Why they're angrier about this than the total whoring of their savior in the name of commercialism escapes me as well.

 

Kotzenjunge

Choice On Earth

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Actually, I just changed my mind.

 

I found this link (WARNING: Annoying MIDI music plays) on Google that explains the origins of the phrase "peace on Earth" and since it's not directly related to Christmas, I don't see a conflict of interest.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

My question is would Planned Parenthood try to talk Mary into an abortion, she was an unwed teen mother?

[Guest Ozymandias]

I would.

[Guest Downhome]

They might as well have released a card with a picture of Santa performing an abortion with the words "Killing Babies Is Fun, Happy Hollidays!".

[Guest Ozymandias]

Yes, that's a very accurate comparison - if you're living in the fuckin Twilight Zone....

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Why can't Planned Parenthood send out a card that says Happy Holidays. They did this to get publicity and it worked.

[Guest Ozymandias]

Because that's stupid and boring and generic. The one they used is good and distinctive. It's completely unoffensive unless you have a stick up your ass. It's not their fault that people will piss and moan. What would they need attention for?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Wow, first it's Dickens and now Christmas cards..

 

Maybe we should just all start celebrating Ramadan.

 

Where's my goat?

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Because that's stupid and boring and generic. The one they used is good and distinctive. It's completely unoffensive unless you have a stick up your ass. It's not their fault that people will piss and moan. What would they need attention for?

Because every damn group with an agenda wants attention.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Well, that kind of is a crucial step in furthering an agenda, worthwhile or not.

[Guest Ozymandias]

That means nothing. You may as well have just typed "....."

 

Why aren't you bitching about the Concerned Women for America & The Family Research Council who are the ones who felt the need to make such a damn fuss. But THEY aren't doing it for attention, right?

[Guest Vern Gagne]

That means nothing. You may as well have just typed "....."

 

Why aren't you bitching about the Concerned Women for America & The Family Research Council who are the ones who felt the need to make such a damn fuss. But THEY aren't doing it for attention, right?

I said every group has an agenda. My point is that this is free publicity for both sides of the abortion debate. I can't say Planned Parenthood sent these cards out with the intent to anger the pro-life people. It shouldn't suprise anyone that it did, but they aren't regretting what they did.

[Guest El Satanico]

Peace On Earth is from the Bible?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

It shouldn't suprise anyone that it did, but they aren't regretting what they did.

Why should they? I mean, after having someone scream "BABY KILLER." at me all day, not to mention the threats and actual BOMBINGS, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't care at all how pissed they got.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Nor would I, Agent. I'd actually egg people on, hire security guards equipped with 12-gauge Remington's, and...yeah...

 

"Peace on Earth" only has Biblical connotations if you're religious. I'm not religious, and I've heard the phrase "Peace on Earth" uttered by nearly EVERYBODY.

[Guest El Satanico]

I always thought "Peace On Earth" was a line that came into existance from the hippies or from one of the hippie era bands.

 

Of course Haysoos could be called a hippie.