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."
