ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Teen Vogue has been the magazine of choice for many girls over the past 10 years. From style, social and shopping advice to updates on current events and entertainment news, Teen Vogue has attracted a wide variety of young readers.

On many occasions during my teen years, I perused copies of the magazine at airports and in Ohio bookstores. Like Vogue, Teen Vogue tended to lean left, but that never stopped me from being able to enjoy the beautiful red-carpet looks and some occasional celebrity gossip.

However, the recent publication of “What to get a friend post-abortion” really left me disturbed. The article’s recommendations ranged from an “angry uterus heating pad” to a “GRL PWR” baseball cap and a “F U-TERUS” pin.

Joking about its recommendation for “high waisted period panties,” Teen Vogue wrote, “Technically they are made for your period, but that’s no reason not to rock em for post-abortion woes, especially because there will be blood.”

Are they serious? Did they really just try to minimize the physical, emotional and social pain caused by an abortion down to some tacky feminist gifts and a pair of underwear?

An abortion is not a joke and should not be treated as such. I am appalled by Teen Vogue’s willingness to potentially misguide teenagers into thinking that an abortion is no big deal, and people across the country share my outrage.

Students for Life released a video of a teenage girl responding to Teen Vogue, slamming the magazine for erroneously assuming that these gifts would somehow ease the pain felt by a teenager who had just received an abortion.

And, if the ridiculous gift ideas were not enough, Teen Vogue continued on to encourage teenagers to become abortion clinic escorts.

“Now that you know all the ways to get through this ordeal, why don’t you make it a little easier for the next girl and sign up to be an abortion clinic escort,” the article said.

The magazine is wrong. Nothing will make it “easier” for the next girl, and there are many young women out there who received abortions and are still suffering with regret. These women are in pain and continually express their desire to share truth with others by speaking out about the fact that they were never exposed to the real facts before their abortions.

Regardless of whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, it is clear that Teen Vogue should be ashamed of its decision to run an article that practically equates a teenage abortion with a day off of school for a cold. As a magazine read by millions, wouldn’t it be great for Teen Vogue to encourage truth and sensitivity instead of minimizing teenage girls to materialistic machines, incapable of their own thoughts and feelings?

• Madison Gesiotto is the former Regional Press Secretary for the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee and a political commentator who appears frequently on Fox News Channel. She is currently in the final year of pursuing her J.D. at The Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. You can reach her by email at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @madisongesiotto.

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