So…you pro-lifers (today I will call you anti-abortionists) think abortion is a horrible thing. You think women are acting as God and extinguishing a life. I get it. From that perspective, I might feel the same way. I have struggled with the abortion issue in my past. That was until I became educated regarding a few things.

First, when you study and dissect the history of women and our struggle towards a more equal footing in our patriarchal world, you begin to understand how certain issues are weaponized against us. Denying birth control, abortion, education, the ability to own land…all of these policies from our past limited a woman’s options. This is primal ground for abuse and oppression.

Second, there is precedent. Abortion has been illegal in our past. Guess what happened to abortion rates when that was our reality? They went up. Not only that, there were more deaths of women because their situation was so desperate, they performed abortions in an unsafe manner and without a medical professional. According to the National Abortion Federation,

Criminalization of abortion did NOT reduce the numbers of women who sought abortions. In the years before Roe v. Wade, the estimates of illegal abortions ranged as high as 1.2 million per year. Although accurate records could not be kept, it is known that between the 1880s and 1973, many thousands of women were harmed as a result of illegal abortion.

If you are anti-abortion, don’t you want the number of abortions to stay down? Don’t you want the number of deaths to decrease? Of course you do.

Third, the vast majority of abortions (91.5%) are carried out at the embryo stage when a fetus is about the size of a blueberry. This is hardly a full-fledged baby like some anti-abortion propaganda likes to depict. So let’s be honest about that.

Fourth, some anti-abortionists claim that women have abortions often and without any thought to their decision. This is far from true. Most women carry the full magnitude of their decisions and take them very seriously. Only .01% of women who get pregnant actually go through with an abortion. But many women also understand they simply do not have the means nor the emotional strength to see a full-blown pregnancy through, or they have a condition that prevents them from seeing a pregnancy through. There are a multitude of reasons a woman might make this choice. It is time to trust that women will make the best decisions for themselves at the time. It is possible there will be regret down the road (thought more often not). People live with regrets all the time. As with everything, we do the best we can at the time with the tools we have in place. So let’s give women more tools, not less.

Sometimes in a society we make certain concessions of our personal beliefs because it is simply better for a society to do so. It does not hinder your own freedom or ability to make your own choice. You don’t get to play God either…on another woman’s body or their personal life options.

It’s simple. Being pro-choice means allowing women the option to navigate her own life as she sees fit. Pro-choicers stand for the following:

• Providing universal access to healthcare regardless of age, race, economic status, sexual orientation, or citizenship. This prevents unwanted pregnancies so that abortion need not be an option (pro-life).
• Providing and educating on all options at a woman’s disposal as she navigates life and enters into womanhood and family planning age. These options include access to birth control, sex education, prenatal care, preventative medicine, adoption resources, counseling, the right to an abortion, and appropriate information related to all these things. Again, this prevents unwanted pregnancies so that abortion need not be an option (pro-life).
• Providing Medicaid and CHIP so that low-income families and children do not go without proper care. This encourages a full-term pregnancy and birth as opposed to an abortion (pro-life).
• Offering nutritional programs at schools for low-income families so that children born into poverty do not go hungry and get the same chance at learning as those who do not go without (pro-life).
• Offering free public pre-school and early childhood development classes to all children so that low-income children do not fall behind their more well-off peers (pro-life).
• Teaching a varied sex education curriculum that includes not only abstinence as an option, but also education about birth control, STDs, safe sex methods, rape culture, gender identity, and inclusion of all types of humans and how they identify. In essence, preparing our kids for the real world (pro-life).
• Abortion is a perfectly normal and viable option as a life choice to prevent unwanted babies, and women should not be shamed from making such a decision. Each woman carries the weight of her own decisions regardless. She has the right to this choice, and it should always be her option and only hers (pro-life of the woman).

Here’s the gist of it:

First they’ll take away your right to an abortion.

Then they’ll take away your access to healthcare and other family planning options.

Then they’ll take away your ability to work and make your own money.

Then they’ll take away any source of savings and equity you have to fall back on during hard times.

Then they’ll take away your right to an education.

Then they’ll take away your ability to speak your mind and form your own opinions.

Then they’ll take away your freedom completely.

It all starts with their ability to control your body and limit your options.

I choose freedom, and I choose life…my own life, my own body, my own choice.

Being pro-choice saves lives…it IS pro-life.

*All stats taken from the CDC (Center of Disease Control) website and utilized 2014 numbers, with exception to the stats on illegal abortion which was taken from the National Abortion Federation.