Mothers and fathers have long avoided discussions about sex when their curious kids ask awkward questions about where their little brothers and sisters came from. For hundreds of years, parents have explained the arrival of the newest additions to their family by sharing the myth of the noble stork.

The stork is fabled to pluck dreaming babies from ponds and lakes, delivering them to deserving families. Known for their careful and attentive parenting skills, storks are a natural stand-in for parents who follow their good example.

Over the last 50 years, a dark underside has developed around conceiving and birthing children that necessitates an addition to this fairy tale. How should mothers and fathers explain the killing of their unwanted children? Now that abortion has gripped our culture, we must place another bird in flight.

The vulture works as an antidote to the stork, snatching children from parents desperate to avoid caring for them. As a scavenging bird of prey, the vulture perfectly represents the truth about abortion and provides a way to explain to young children where ‘unwanted’ babies go.

There is, however, another option that could lead to the expulsion of the vulture from this modern and dark version of the story of new life. Storks are talented navigators capable of delivering babies to families other than those who inadvertently conceived them. But the vultures in our story are aggressive birds who feed on fear and selfishness, striking down the delivery of babies to adoptive families to preserve their way of life.

Learn more about Planned Parenthood and how to protect the storks.