• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Dinner is on the stove and I’m setting the table when our second grader walks into the kitchen.He is carrying a postcard he’s pulled out of the pile of mail.“Is this what we were talking about?” he asks, and he points to a picture on the postcard.I glance down and

When your child asks about abortion

April 4, 2016
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window, Respect Life

Dinner is on the stove and I’m setting the table when our second grader walks into the kitchen.He is carrying a postcard he’s pulled out of the pile of mail.

“Is this what we were talking about?” he asks, and he points to a picture on the postcard.

I glance down and see that it’s a postcard from a pro-life organization. In one corner there are two small pictures of aborted babies. It’s very graphic and very disturbing.

My heart sinks.

“Yes,” I say. “That’s what we were talking about when we talked about abortion.”

Because of course we’ve discussed abortion. He just asked about it again this weekend, following up on a conversation from many months ago, when he saw protesters outside the hospital, holding signs with similar pictures on them.

And here we are looking at the pictures again—pictures I can’t face, pictures that bring me close to tears, pictures that make me feel physically ill.

The questions start coming.

How do people kill babies? Why do people kill babies?

I fumble to find words I don’t have. I admit that I don’t really understand, that it makes me very, very sad. But, although I believe in answering questions fully about anything and everything, I am not sure I am talking about this well. I’m too shaken by the images myself. 

“Those are scary pictures,” I say. “I’m sorry you saw them.”

I can’t read his reaction. I don’t know what he’s thinking or how much he understands. I’m not sure how much I want him to understand.

I wish pro-life organizations wouldn’t use graphic pictures like that. But what I wish were that abortion weren’t something I ever had to explain to my children at all. Obviously much of this is beyond my control.

My son leaves the postcard in my hands and heads back to the other room to play a game with his brother. They are building a fort using the couch cushions, and the postcard is forgotten—at least for now.

I stuff the postcard in the trashcan. But I know this conversation is just beginning.

 

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?

The mental health crisis crosses all boundaries and ages

Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent

Question Corner: Do we relax our Lenten fasts on Sunday?

Pope Francis: 10 titles for 10 years

| Recent Local News |

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Confession, indulgences express and strengthen communion, speakers say
  • Pro-life groups seek commitments on federal abortion limits from 2024 GOP contenders
  • Pope: Without power of Holy Spirit, evangelization is empty advertising
  • West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State
  • Rosary project supplies ‘long-range, heart-changing weapons’ to Ukraine
  • Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university
  • Movie Review: ‘In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis’
  • Church calls for ‘international protection of holy sites’ after attack on church at Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem
  • Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED