New Line Of e-Cards Offered For Women Who Have Had Abortions

[matcom]

<snip>

SAN FRANCISCO -- A nonprofit organization has launched a line of e-cards for women who've had abortions.

Exhale already runs a confidential post-abortion talk line. Founder Aspen Baker said the inspiration for e-cards came when an abortion provider remarked that there were no Hallmark cards for abortion.

The six e-cards were designed to be nonpartisan and encompass a wide range of responses that a woman may go through after having the procedure.

One expresses sympathy, saying, "As you grieve, remember that you are loved." Another provides encouragement for someone who "did the right thing."

Still another reassures the recipient that "God will never leave you or forsake you."

The cards are offered in English and Spanish. Baker said Exhale plans to also publish a magazine for women who've had abortions.

http://www.wftv.com/health/11250713/detail.html

[Raffi Ella]

1. You shoulda posted this in G.D.

I think this is an amazing step forward to lessen the stigma attatched to a womans right to choose.

Even though I can't see a woman broadcasting this news(maybe to close family/friends)the fact that the cards are available is a giant leap for womens rights.

[SteppingRazor]

6. Does it lessen it, or magnify it?

By expressing such sorrow, it seems to promote the idea that abortion is something wrong — that it is, in fact, the killing of a child.


Or am I just an idiot? Because that's often the case. :silly:

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Bet they don't have one that applies to me...

It would say "Hooray! You can continue your education now, and won't end up a welfare mom! Congratulations!"

I feel no guilt or regret. NONE. I made the best choice for me.

I find these cards insulting. As if we needed some sort of special card for spoiled women. :eyes:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. i completely agree with you on this one.

its both condescending and unnecessary.

are there cards for getting your appendix removed?

:eyes:

[fudge stripe cookays]

12. That's nice to see.

I know we don't tend to agree often.

Peace. :-)

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. "Another provides encouragement for someone who "did the right thing."

[Raffi Ella]

7. Really?I don't understand...insulting,spoiled women?

I feel the same as you do about my decision to have an abortion.I thank my lucky stars -and the men and women who fight to keep it safe and legal- that I was able to have the procedure(even though I had to walk through the nastiest of anti womens rights activists to do so).

I don't find it condescending at all.Not even the "grieving" one.Fact is some women do grieve.It is an extremely personal event and like I said I can't see a lot of people using these cards but I think the fact that they are out there acknowledges a womans right to choose in a significant way.

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. But how would anyone KNOW how you feel about it now?

Isn't it the tiniest bit offensive to you that someone would hand you one of these ASSUMING they know how brokenhearted or guilty or sad you must feel?

If, like me, you feel no guilt-- only relief-- there is absolutely no need for a card like this. How is what occurred anyone's business but ours?

These cards are unnecessary. I see no reason for them.

[Raffi Ella]

13. "How is what occurred anyone's business but ours?"

exactly and it most probably wouldn't be except maybe to those a woman trusted and could confide this sort of news to.
Like I said I cannot see these cards being used but the fact that they are out there takes the topic out of the closet, so to speak, and makes it less of a taboo.

[skygazer]

15. In which case the person probably wouldn't send her a tacky ecard

But would be someone she could actually talk to and count on for support - not to tell her that god still loves her. Why the hell wouldn't he/she?

[fudge stripe cookays]

16. Exactly.

This is a really bad idea-- getting these e-mails out there for anyone to collect.

[El Fuego]

10. I was happy and relieved after mine.

"Yay! My life isn't wrecked!"

[LynneSin]

4. Great, now there is a group out there who is gathering a list of everyone who has had an abortion

Think about it - I email a friend a "hope you're ok after your abortion" and include her email address. Now that address can be added to a master list of people who have probably received abortions.

Think of what the anti-choice nut jobs could do with someething like that

Do not use this list - do NOT give them your email address or the email address of anyone you know who has had an abortion

[NewWaveChick1981]

8. Speaking as a woman who has exercised her right to choose on one occasion,

I am ambivalent about this line of e-cards. The decision to have an abortion is almost always emotionally charged and almost always made with mixed feelings. I would not send one of these cards to a woman who has had an abortion because it is an intensely private matter and I would not feel right calling attention to it and making her feel worse in the process. If I felt the need to comfort her, though, I'd send a "thinking of you" card instead.

For me, I made the decision jointly with my husband, and on my part, it was complete relief. :) I don't regret the decision at all---I never have. But my husband has.

[El Fuego]

9. This is definitely being done by an "anti-choice" group

It gives them a passive aggressive way to harrass women who had abortions. And they are also suggesting to other woman that the experience is so terrible they will need a greeting card to handle it.

What makes it even more idiotic is that an abortion is a PRIVATE matter, and no one will know a woman had an abortion unless they were told!!!

[skygazer]

14. Why SHOULD there be Hallmark cards for abortion?

Even disregarding the fact that there are too damn many Hallmark cards for everything under the sun already, why in the world do we need them for abortion? Particularly when the sentiments expressed reinforce the idea that the person somehow did something wrong.

Let alone the fact that they're sent by email - there's a great idea. As someone above pointed out, that's a ready-made recipe to get on some wingnuts list of people to harass. :eyes: