InsideCatholic.com’s The Baby in the Box video has been getting a lot of play around the web. The brief spot poses a basic question: Should we not err on the side of caution when it comes to the way we treat the unborn?

Even before I was a practicing Catholic, I was a pro-life feminist. It just made sense to me -- the right to life is the most fundamental right of all. And I believed then, as I do now, that solution-oriented approaches, focusing on the needs of women, will best bring about a culture of life. 

When I saw The Baby in the Box, I suspected pro-choice feminists might twist it into an anti-woman message. Sadly, I was right. The comments on various feminist blogs range from ignorant to bizarre to down right nasty.

Here are a few examples...

If you ever doubted that the pro-life movement thinks of women not so much as people with individual personalities, feelings and responsibilities in life, but more as mindless, thoughtless containers for babies, this little video from InsideCatholic.com ought make it pretty clear. (Trailer Park Feminist)

According  to the symbolism in this video, the box represents the fetus. You have to treat the fetus cautiously because the fetus might be pregnant with a baby. Or something. (Feministe commenter)

...let me just say that if there were a bunch of boxes sitting in front of me and someone said there might be a baby in one . . . I WOULD OPEN ALL OF THE F***ING BOXES. To, you know, get the baby out. Not just carry a box around pretending that there might be a baby in it. So if I’m meant to treat the “baby” in my uterus the same as I treat a baby in a box . . . isn’t that just promoting abortion? What f***ing morons. (Feministe commenter)  

It makes me think Catholics are crazy, sick f***s who stick babies in boxes (that start as Jesus crosses) just to mess with people’s heads. (Feministe commenter)

Yes indeedy, ladies, you may have thought yourself to be a fully autonomous human being with desires and emotions and goals and needs, but really, you're just an empty box. But good news -- you just might contain a baby inside you! So, like, in that case, we'll take care of you! Until the baby's removed, at which point you can be discarded or recycled or stored in a basement until later. (Shakespeare's Sister)  

Wow. Do these people really believe the use of the box metaphor in this video means Catholics believe women are like boxes? That they’re breeding machines? I’m baffled at the level of ignorance. Any analogy or metaphor that suggests pregnancy or the unborn will limp. Isn’t that obvious? Apparently not. 

For the record, The Baby in the Box is not meant to be a profound philosophical treatment of the abortion issue. And it isn’t a statement about women’s bodies. InsideCatholic.com does not believe women’s wombs are cardboard carriers. This video is simply about the hidden nature of the unborn person, and how this fact should give us pause.