Hallmark doesn't sell cards with swastikas for Passover or artsy pictures of burning crosses for Martin Luther King's birthday. So why is Planned Parenthood peddling a Christmas card that says "Choice on Earth''?

For some reason, this insensitive insult to Christians during the season celebrating the birth of Christ has hardly registered on the media's sensitivity meter.

Christians have come to expect this kind of abuse. A similar insult to Hindus, Jews or even radical Islamics would be treated like a hate crime. But it's always open season on Christianity. Anyone from the ACLU to Ted Turner can take a free potshot.

`Abortion on Earth'

No wonder Planned Parenthood sees no problem with a Christmas card that substitutes "Choice on Earth'' for the traditional biblical message of "Peace on Earth'' from the Gospel of Luke.

At Planned Parenthood, "choice'' means abortion. "Abortion on Earth.'' What a merry message for Christmas. Coming soon: "Thou shalt not kill - except unborn children.''

The Concerned Women of America is urging taxpayers to tell Congress to eliminate Planned Parenthood's annual subsidy of $137 million.

"Planned Parenthood, a giant organization that receives hundreds of millions of tax dollars, has chosen to profit from a day sacred to Christians by offending them," said Wendy Wright of CWA.

"The group twists a well-known Scripture in which God offers peace on Earth - not abortion - through the birth of His son, Jesus Christ. 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. Christmas is about the gift of life, eternal life in Christ. Abortion destroys life.''

Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt replied in a letter:

"We've sent our `Choice on Earth' holiday card to supporters for almost a decade. It is a popular sentiment that expresses some of the highest values of our democratic society: respect for diversity, without which there can be no peace, for example.''

T-shirts too

Respect for diversity? What about respect for Christians - or are they excluded from the diversity catalog?

"Our supporters are so energized by the vicious criticism of our holiday card that we're printing additional cards and limited-edition `Choice on Earth' T-shirts," a Planned Parenthood press release said.

They also offered twisted scripture from a liberal minister who is a Planned Parenthood adviser.

"Even as a minister I am careful what I presume Jesus would do if he were alive today, but one thing I know from the Bible is that Jesus was not against women having a choice in continuing a pregnancy. He never said a word about abortion (nor did anyone else in the Bible) even though abortion was available and in use in his time," wrote the Rev. Mark Bigelow of New York.

It seems to me he's not careful enough about what he presumes Jesus would do.

Here's a better idea for a Planned Parenthood Christmas card: a manger with an empty cradle.