Being Pro-Life means being anti-women

I’m sure everyone on campus has seen the pro-life chalk “art” by now. They claim to be pro-women and pro-love, and yet all I can see is how hateful they are. Using all the colors of the rainbow, they write about how our mothers chose life for us and suggest women who have abortions are terrible people.

This being said, most of our mothers had the choice to carry us. If my mother chose to have an abortion instead of giving birth to me, I would be none the wiser. Women who choose to have abortions have them for a myriad of reasons, and they are in no way terrible simply because they couldn’t or wouldn’t give birth.

This is my response to those who want the government to police women’s bodies more than they already do.

Around 30,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions. Making abortion illegal does not stop abortions, it stops safe abortions. Making women so desperate they are willing to die does not sound very pro-life to me.

Women who are denied abortions—and are forced to carry the child to full-term—have a higher chance of developing life-threatening complications. It doesn’t sound very pro-life to me.

Instead of putting all of your energy into making abortion illegal, focus more on preventing unwanted pregnancies at the source. Push for school systems to provide better sex education. Help make contraception easier and cheaper to access. Do something which doesn’t take rights away from women, but actually helps them.

You can also focus on the fact that over 437,000 children are in foster care just in the U.S. alone. Adding to the amount will not help anyone. The foster care system is awful, and there are many kids who need homes right now.

I am pro-choice because I believe in women’s healthcare. I am pro-choice because it’s not my business to judge other women’s private decisions. I am pro-choice because it’s not my business to judge other women, period. I am pro-choice because I care about women’s rights. And I am pro-choice because it saves lives.

I can go on and on, but my hope is this article can at least make the pro-lifers think about all the hate they carry in their hearts, and about how they can better use their passion.

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 7:4-5.