I wasn’t always pro-life, as a matter of fact I spent many years condemning anyone who was pro-life for their “attempt at taking my rights away”. I was just like many women nowadays, I believed that any restrictions on abortion was simply just another way that men were trying to control women. I was the type of person who kept the access to an abortion at any given time in my back pocket in case any accidents happened. I was all for it and didn't want to hear it from anyone who had opposing views. Oh! And one of my favorite reasons for being enraged at anyone for being pro-life was because they had little to no consideration for rape victims.
Now, before I continue, I just want whoever is reading this to know that my intention isn’t to speak badly about people who believe that a woman should have a right to an abortion. And I’m certainly not writing this to make anyone who may have already had an abortion feel guilty. All I want to do is share why I had a change of heart and some information that I discovered along the journey of educating myself about this extremely controversial topic.
Ok so, most people would think that the number one reason why I am pro-life now, is because I’m a Christian. Although my faith does play a role in my change of heart, it actually wasn’t the only deciding factor. I’m going to list some views that I held when I was pro-abortion that many of you will recognize as views you or people you know may still hold onto today. Views that kept me believing that I had a moral high ground on anyone who disagreed with me. I will also be listing some information that once I was made aware of, had a big impact on my transition.
“Men shouldn’t have an opinion or make laws on abortion because men will never know what it’s like to be pregnant or to be a woman.”
Although this sounds great on the surface, it was actually a Supreme Court that was made up of entirely male judges who first voted 7-2 on a ruling that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction (1). The reality is that when we say “men shouldn’t have an opinion on xyz” what most of us mean is that “men who disagree with a women’s ability to get an abortion shouldn’t have an opinion on what women do with their body”. At least that's how I felt, and when confronted with this I realized the shoe fit and the pill was hard to swallow. Also, in the passing of the Sept 1st, 2021 SB8 law the Supreme Court's deciding factor of the 5-4 vote was actually a woman. So shall we rethink this whole “men shouldn’t speak on it” argument? If one more man on that Supreme Court would have voted to block the Texas law, it would have been blocked(2)! Ouch!
“My body, my choice!”
This one right here took A LONG TIME for me to comprehend. While a baby may be in a woman’s body, the baby isn’t actually the woman’s body. The baby is a completely different body. That completely different body is not a “future human being”, it is already a human being. The baby may not be fully developed yet, but the baby is still a life. It’s a life inside of another life and although the mother is hosting that body inside of her body it doesn’t give her the choice to determine it’s right to live.
“If you abort it very early it’s not a baby, it’s just a clump of cells.”
Truthfully, we are all just a clump of cells. We are just a bigger clump of cells than a baby. Having cells is something that only living organisms can have. Your pots and pans don't have cells. Your silverware doesn’t have cells. All living things are made of cells. If we found an “embryo” or a “fetus” on Mars, there would be news headlines everywhere saying “We found life on Mars! We are not alone in the universe!” So why when this “small clump of cells” is inside of another “bigger clump of cells”, is it not considered life? Why is it that when a woman is murdered while she is pregnant, the suspect is charged with double homicide? The woman could literally be 3 weeks pregnant “with a clump of cells in her body” driving to the clinic to get an abortion, murdered along the way and the suspect would still be charged with a double homicide. Even if the woman clearly didn’t want to keep the baby, the courts would still say that baby was a life worthy of being considered “murdered” by the suspect (3). Why does the value of that life change if she isn’t stopped on her way to the abortion center and follows through with the abortion?
And even further into this “clump of cells” statement. What about that baby's DNA code? If you know anything about DNA, each one of us, at the moment of conception received our own unique DNA code that has never appeared before in history and will never be repeated again in the future. That DNA code is unique to the individual that it is assigned to. Each baby in the womb has their own unique DNA code that will never be repeated again. You don’t even have to believe in God to see what I’m saying here. That unique individual will never have a chance to live if they are killed in the womb. There is no “I’ll have the baby when I’m ready”. That unique individual baby is gone FOREVER (4).
Also, If you have never looked into how abortions are done, especially after 6 weeks, I suggest you listen to this video from ex-abortion doctor, Dr. Levatino : https://youtu.be/A16gzm9eaa8
“What about rape or incest?”
This was one that I used to get moral high ground on anyone who disagreed with a woman’s right to an abortion. The fact of the matter is that this is just a tool we as women use to throw in someone's face to trap them into saying “women should be forced to carry their rapist's baby”. It’s an opportunity to make someone feel like absolute crap for being pro-life. But if we’re being honest, the data shows that 99% of abortions aren’t due to rape or incest. At the time of the writing of this blog, there have already been almost 29 million abortions in 2021 (5). 99% of those weren’t from rape or incest (6). That means that 28,710,000 babies were killed out of convenience. Even if we factor in that 3 out of 4 sexual assaults are not reported, and even if we assume that all of those assaults were rape (which they aren't) that ended up with a pregnancy, that would still be 27,840,000 babies aborted out of convenience. Now what about that remaining 1%? Does that mean that those cases of rape or incest don’t matter? No, absolutely not. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what anyone who goes through any kind of sexual abuse would be feeling especially if that abuse ended up with a pregnancy. But I ask you to wrestle with this question, just like I did even though it's difficult. Did the child in the womb commit any of the crimes of their father? Does the child in that women’s womb deserve the death penalty for their fathers crimes? If you don’t believe that a fetus is a life, then the answer for you is easy. But if you do believe the child in the womb is an actual, innocent life, then we must face these types of questions with a compassionate heart for both the mother and the child. Although, the answer won't be as cut and dry as we make it, there are many children who were conceived in rape who grew up to make impacts in our society today. From civil rights activists like Jesse Jackson to world champion surfer Layne Beachley and even Eartha Kitt who recorded the famous hit “Santa Baby”(7). There are also many children conceived in rape who grow up to be loving parents, husbands, wives and contributing members to our society. Should their lives have been negated because of the way they were conceived? I don’t claim to have a full answer on this but I do believe we should wrestle with these questions and use our logic just as much as we use our emotions.
Side note, doesn’t having easy access to legal abortion make it very easy for an abuser who gets their victim pregnant to then force them to go get an abortion as a way to hurt the victim even more? If it’s a “no questions asked” abortion, that creates an environment of easy cover ups and continued abuse towards women from abusive men. We all know at least one woman who was forced to get an abortion from their significant other. If we’re talking about abusive men here, these pro-abortion regulations give those men the ability to avoid accountability and continue their patterns of abuse.
“You aren’t pro life. You’re just anti-abortion. If you were really pro life then why aren’t you voting to provide services for these unwanted children!”
Let’s look at the facts. The people voting for pro-life policies are the same people providing services to help mothers in need. There are close to double the amount of Crisis Pregnancy Centers to abortion clinics in the United States. Meaning you have double the resources available to you if you would like to pursue options outside of abortion (8). #Period
“You’re only pro-life because you’re a Christian!”
Even though I just went through a bunch of reasons why I am pro-life that have virtually nothing to do with my personal faith, my answer to this question is….. “And?”
What does that really say about the Christian faith? What if the only reason I believed that a baby shouldn’t be killed was because I was a Christian? Does that change the value of the baby’s life? What's interesting is that Christians were actually the first people to care for unwanted children. When the Romans would leave unwanted babies outside to die of exposure, the early Christians would try to save them, then adopt them and take care of them as their own children(9). They were actually made fun of for doing this. This has an ironically familiar feeling in today's society. Christians today are still made fun of for wanting to protect the lives of the most innocent. Some of you who are of Italian descent could in fact be the descendants of one of those babies that those early Christians saved from death. If I was only pro-life because of my faith, it wouldn’t change anything that I’ve said above. Even if I was still an atheist, everything I stated above would still be true.
Conclusion:
I’ll end this on this note, I used to get super emotional and combative when anyone (especially a man) had the slightest thing to say about “my abortion rights”. It came to a point though where I had absolutely nothing but my emotions to lead me astray in conversations about abortion. I had absolutely NO IDEA why I supported pro-abortion aside from A) What I’ve been told and B) Not wanting to accept responsibility for my sexual actions. I don't mean to be harsh here, I know many people enjoy a bit of rolling around in the hay but man does it come with some serious consequences. We are reproductive beings! When you have unprotected sex you put yourself in deep waters (no pun intended lol) in many ways, potential STD’s and or a pregnancy!
I’ve changed a lot and I must admit I was ignorant. There's nothing wrong with admitting you might lack knowledge or information. In fact, once you realize you might not have all your ducks in a row you can start working on getting them in a row! Research! Grow! Learn! Your opinion will be respected way more when you're educated about what you speak on.
Hope this helped you think differently and if it didn’t that’s okay, your life still holds value. xo
Great points and explanations to them all. I commend your courage on writing this! I pray many will read this and their hearts be changed.
Great points Gio! broke majority of the questions and statements asked.
🙏