PHILADELPHIA _ At least two customers opened products they purchased at a suburban Philadelphia supermarket this weekend and found something unexpected: a card expressing anti-abortion sentiments and directing them to a website about "abolishing" abortion. In at least one case, the card also included a photo of what appeared to be a dead fetus in the palm of a hand.
Annie Weiss, a 31-year-old mother of two who lives in West Conshohocken, said she bought a box of Luvs diapers Sunday afternoon at a Wegmans in King of Prussia and when she opened the box on Monday, she found a business-card-size piece of paper inside that read on one side "God hates the hands that shed innocent blood." On the flip side was the graphic image.
"I was upset because it's very invasive," Weiss said. "I didn't have the choice to see that card."
A Wegmans spokesperson said in addition to Weiss, one other customer reported a similar experience with a different product. Employees have since scoured the store, finding and removing about 10 additional anti-abortion cards tucked in a variety of products on the grocery store's shelves.
"At this point, we have no idea who is doing this," said spokesperson Jo Natale, "but our asset protection team is investigating to determine what our next steps should be." She said there haven't been incidents reported at other stores.
The cards direct the reader to AbolishHumanAbortion.com, a website dedicated to abortion "abolitionism." The group _ which calls itself a movement and not an organization, though it has a P.O. box in Oklahoma _ claims on its website that it aims to end abortion, writing it's "one of the greatest human miseries and moral evils ever to be entrenched in our world." The group frequently posts graphic photos on its social channels and has referred to abortion as a "holocaust."
Abolish Human Abortion also separates itself from "pro-lifers," writing that those anti-abortion activists have worked to chip away at abortion access through gradual means and incremental legislation, while abolitionists advocate for immediate action and "reject the idea that you can effectively fight evil by allowing it in some cases."
The group, which appears to have a Pennsylvania and a Philadelphia affiliate, did not respond to requests for comment.
Abolish Human Abortion asks its supporters to employ a variety of tactics, including ordering "drop cards" and placing them in public spaces in their area. The card Weiss found can be purchased online _ a 500-pack costs $16. The Abolitionist Society of Philadelphia suggests supporters place the cards in the slots of ATM machines, in public restrooms and on supermarket shelves.
Graphic imagery has long been a tactic used by some anti-abortion activists. In 2014, an Ohio-based group projected still photos of bloody fetuses on Independence Mall as part of an anti-abortion protest, and last fall, a group of Penn students protested abortion with graphic photos of fetuses outside an on-campus library.
