I’m Pro-Life and I’m Not Afraid to Admit It

Since Roe vs. Wade made it a woman’s choice about what to do to her unborn child in 1973, the debate about abortion has raged in all corners of the United States. The shooting at the planned parenthood clinic in Colorado has brought this debate once again into the limelight. Be advised, most people who are pro-life do not condone this behaviour. Personally, I feel it is a slap in the face to all pro-lifers in the world. Violence is never the way to make yourself heard in a democracy.

But, I digress. Returning to the purpose of this article, I’m pro-life. If you’re pro-choice, that’s fine, but I would urge you to give what I’m about to tell you some serious consideration. Life begins at conception. I’m not going to drop some pretentious bible verse or phrase like “we’re all God’s children,” because not everyone is a Christian.

When these two halves of an unborn human come together, they make a zygote, one cell that before was two disparate cells. The sperm and ovum both have 23 chromosomes. When these fuse, they form one cell with 46 chromosomes. This is now a human. A new life. A baby.

Now, some of you must be saying, but Randal, it’s just one cell, how can that be called a baby?! Good question. This is a technicality. Yes it is just one cell, but that one cell contains the genetic code of a brand new human. A new scion of the human race, the furthering of the goals of our species as a whole. From the point of fertilization, inside a woman’s body is a new human being. That being said, I can accept the use of the morning after pill. Anything further is a crime.

You’re next question might be, but Randal, that thing inside her body can’t live outside the womb, so it’s part of her body right?! Again, technically, yes. However, this is by and large a moral debate.

Yes a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body in that she can choose to get a tattoo or choose to smoke pot. However, this is not her body we are talking about. We are speaking of the body of her baby, her fetus (While I recognize this term as medically accurate, I do not necessarily like it, as it dehumanizes the fact that this is a baby). I do not think a woman has the choice to murder her unborn child. Let’s be honest, it’s murder. What is inside of her womb is a living human. If you disagree, why is it written in the law in most states that killing a pregnant woman counts as two murders? This is a double standard I find morally repugnant. It’s not like you’re getting a tumour removed – you’re getting your own flesh and blood ripped from your womb and murdered.

Now, in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother, I think abortion is acceptable. I can understand a woman who was raped by her uncle not wanting to have that child. What I don’t support is teenage girls having unprotected sex, getting pregnant, and using abortion as an “out”.

When I was in high school, a good friend of mine, Jane Doe*, got pregnant, and she drove all the way to Dallas to get an abortion. I called her the next day to see if she needed someone to talk to (she did, big time). Anyway, I listened to her tell the story. Her abortion was late term, and it was like listening to a horror story. She wasn’t relieved that she didn’t have a baby that would ruin her life (again a colloquialism that I detest, as if a baby is a punishment, or a burden instead of a blessing), she was devastated. She was devastated by the fact that she had ended the life of a child that had never had a chance to begin with. She tried to kill herself twice before she told her parents and started therapy. It was not a happy time, and her boyfriend (a friend of mine from football), was also devastated. He didn’t see that baby as a curse, or an impediment to his plans, he loved Jane Doe, and would have helped her raise that child. Also, Jane could have given the baby up for adoption. There are so many families out there that can’t have children of their own who would die for the chance to raise children, and here we are murdering unborn babies!

Now, as to why I say I’m not afraid to admit I’m pro-life. I feel like some of the pro-choice people are very vindictive towards those who are pro-life. I’ve been called a misogynist (which I’m not, I am in favor of women’s equality), a pig, and various other slurs that just aren’t true. I guess I can see why people would feel this way about the pro-life movement, about how it oppresses women. However, It saddens me that feminists have sunk to the point where being able to murder your child is something that they want.

Especially in Hollywood. Those idolized by my generation are a heavy influence on the views of my generation. One thing I think gets overlooked is that this function is the beauty of women, the fact that they can produce a new human life. I don’t think we really stop and consider how amazing this is. All of the things that men find attractive about women are manifestations of what we instinctively know would enable her to be a good mother. It’s science.

I would say that many pro-lifers are somewhat afraid to voice their opinion, especially on the internet. Opening that particular can of worms is like Rick Perry’s ill-fated campaign commercial (I mean, come on Rick, you did good for Texas, but really? Gay’s serving in the military is your definition of a problem? I’m ashamed of you Rick), you’re asking to get your ass kicked. I’m not putting everything on the pro-choicers, there are pro-lifers who are just as vehemently opposed. Like the ones who commend that loony who shot up the clinic.

I think that in today’s day and age, things have grown just a bit too liberated. I’m all about free love and whatever, girls, you do you. But if it’s getting to the point where we’re killing babies, there needs to be a reevaluation of priorities.

Something that would probably help would be proper sex education. At my high school (a small-town school in East Texas) our sex-ed consisted of ABSTINENCE. Nothing else, just don’t have sex until you get married. Nothing about contraception, nothing about hygiene, nothing about anything except abstinence. You can guess how that went over – it didn’t. I know of about 5 people who were still virgins when we graduated. Me, and the four handicapped kids.

It’s the same way in other states too. There aren’t any standards for sex-ed in any states. I’ve met kids from other high-schools, and they’ve told me the same things. Their sex-ed classes consisted of abstinence. That’s it. It’s a country-wide problem. I think if we make an effort to educate children about safe sex, this abortion thing might not be so necessary. If you are a woman who gets pregnant, say, you and your husband aren’t ready for kids, just wait. Give the child up for adoption, or maybe, just maybe, if you wait, you might find that you want that baby. It is one of life’s greatest blessings, so I’ve been told.

My friends with children tell me they don’t regret it one bit. Children are a blessing, not a curse.