"We recognize the right of all women to choose whether, when, and under what circumstances to bear children. Reproductive freedom and responsibility are essential to other rights and opportunities, including pursuit of education, employment, financial security and a stable and fulfilling family life. Restrictions of reproductive choice are especially burdensome for young women and poor women. Girls Incorporated supports a woman’s freedom of choice, a constitutional right established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade."
Would you say the foregoing statement, from Girls Inc. [see it here on the Girls Inc. web site]:
A. Is an unequivocal 'pro-choice' position; or
B. Simply "favors an open discussion about abortion"?
If you chose 'A', I'd say you're grounded in reality. If you chose 'B', you are probably a writer/producer for the Early Show at CBS.
The matter arose in the context of an Early Show segment on American Girl [AG], a company that markets a successful line of dolls and other products for girls. The segment focused on a new AG ad campaign called "Save Girlhood" which, as described by CBS reporter Mika Brzezinski, "calls on parents to preserve the magic of childhood and rejects the vampy messages barraging pre-teens."
Continued Brzezinski:
"The ad campaign may also be helping the company to refocus after controversy this year over the company's affiliation with Girls, Inc., an organization that supports underprivileged girls but also favors an open discussion of abortion."
"Save Girlhood" is AG's first-ever major ad campaign in 20 years, but a clip was played from an ad agency rep claiming with a straight face that they had "concepted this" [don't you love the way Madison Ave. people talk?] well before the controversy arose.
Right. Pure coincidence.
For CBS and the Early Show, an explicit statement that Girls, Inc. "supports a woman's freedom of choice" and Roe v. Wade is nothing more than support for "an open discussion of abortion."
If another doll maker were found to be affiliated with a group whose web site contained a statement identical statement to that of Girls, Inc., the sole difference being that the language on supporting abortion and Roe was modifed by 'not', do you think CBS would likewise describe the group as supporting "an open discusssion on abortion"?
Neither do I.
