Guest Author - Rebecca Pearce-Banks

(No graphic material.)

Type "abortion" into the Google search engine and you'll come up with a list of pro-choice and pro-life websites. When I did it today, Liberty Women's Health Care of Queens - NYC came up in the highlighted sponsored links box at the top of the list. The "Safer Abortions" tagline caught my eye.

I clicked through and lo and behold was the detailed summary of what constitutes a "safer" abortion. As I read through it, I was entertained to find the term "state-of-the-art" used five times on the homepage alone describing everything from ultrasound machines to urine pregnancy tests to the more vague private offices.

To the unstudied, Liberty Women's Health Care sounds as if it's safer than the alternative "bargain" clinics they're competing with. (Bargain is their word, not mine.) But look a little closer and you'll see that the "state-of-the-art" methods they use to keep their patients out of harm's way are simply standard medical procedures in compliance with the law.

Sterilized surgical instruments are just one of the ridiculous "safer" alternatives they boast of, not to mention having resuscitative equipment available should the need arise. What they don't tell you is that every known abortion clinic that falls under New York jurisdiction follows pretty much the same protocol they do. Unfortunately for anyone contemplating abortion, the smiling, healthy-looking young woman on the Liberty Women's Health Care home page and promises of a "safer" abortion make it easier to take that life-changing plunge into abortion.

Lately there has been a huge marketing campaign to soften the harsh image of abortion. This has even extended into the political arena, with hardcore liberals choosing their battles and sometimes taking a moderate/conservative stance on issues to avoid getting called out as rabid pro-choicers.

The image being sold is no longer a militant young woman pumping her fist into the air and screaming for equality and freedom, but a thoughtful, responsible young woman considering her future and delaying parenthood to give herself and her future family the best life possible. Make no mistake, this is not a shift in our culture, it is simply a gentler, woman-savvy excuse to sell abortion as a conscientious and valid option. It's a case of the tail wagging the dog, plain and simple.

Coming Up: "Details On Fetal Pain Research" and "Abortion - A Money Industry Or Women's Rights?"