Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

The issue of abortion has been in the news a lot lately with the upcoming elections. I personally am pro-choice. This, as some conservatives tend to believe, does not mean that I am pro-abortion. I do not approve of the idea of abortion as I believe, innately, that all life is sacred and everything happens for a reason. If someone gets pregnant, even from rape, I believe that it was meant to happen. However, I am pro-choice.

 I understand the pro-life stance: Life begins at conception and abortion is murder. Murder is illegal so abortion should be illegal. I get that.

Unfortunately, I abhor the idea of shoving ideas down people's throats. I hate abortion. I hate the ignoring of a personal choice more. The right to choose is what makes this country as amazing as it is. We do not have a country where the government dictates what we believe or what we can say. We live in a country where, if I do not want to watch Jersey Shore, I don't have to. If I want to vote Obama for re-election, I can. If I want to have an abortion, as I feel it would be best for the child or myself if life was not brought into this world, then that is my choice. It is not the decision of the majority of the country if I let my uterus contain a child or not. It is not the majority of the country going through an abortion on my behalf. It is a woman's right to decide if she wants her body to go through the most drastic change nature can bestow, a life-threatening change in some cases.

There are cases where a pregnant woman is a child who cannot divulge her situation to her parents for fear that they will, through anger and abuse, kill her. As a country, it has been the topic of discussion for years whether or not abortion can be legal. For unfortunate cases, abortion can be the best option. It can save a life by circumventing another.

Also, do any pro-lifers know what happens when a woman enters an abortion clinic? For an hour, the woman goes through a psychological counseling session. For another hour, the woman sits in a room, receives an ultra sound, and listens to the heartbeat of their unborn child while given statistics about the health, age, and development. Then, after signing many wavers and given more and more time to think about what they are about to do, the abortion can be performed. If a woman can go through all of that and still want to abort, they should not have a child at that time. Many women go to have an abortion and, through the hours, decide against it.

AND even if there was legislature to outlaw abortion, abortion would still happen, just not as safe or as ethically conscious as it currently operates. I do not support abortion in the slightest, but it is not MY body, it is not MY child, and it is not MY choice to make. I am pro-choice, not pro-abortion, because I will defend to the death the right of women and men to make their own choices. Vive.