Often times, people identify being feminist with being pro-choice. No joke, the other day I saw an article that was titled, "There Is No Such Thing as a 'Pro-Life Feminist." I'm writing this to tell you, that's not true. You can be pro-life but also advocate for equality between man and woman.

Now, I'm not writing this with the intention to make anyone upset. I am writing this because of how much I've learned about the idea of being pro-life. I attended the March for Life in January of 2016, which happens every year in memory of the Roe v. Wade case that declared abortion as a fundamental right. Going into the trip, I knew I stood for life, but it was just because of the idea of a baby's life being put in danger through abortion. I learned so much over the extended five-day trip (thanks, Storm Jonas), and I came out of the trip being more confident and educated in the fact that I'm pro-life. I learned about scientific evidence, I heard personal witnesses and I became passionate about the pro-life movement. I also learned a lot about the opposing side's opinions; I learned about the validity and value of their defensive stance. Although I stand strong with the pro-life viewpoint, in any circumstance it’s smart to be educated about the side you conflict with. This is important in the instance where someone asks you about your opinion. If you sound uneducated and unaware of the opposition's stance, no one will understand or trust your opinion on that topic. All of this taught me that there are always two sides to every controversial topic, no matter which side you believe in, and it’s important to hear out the opposing side. Because of all of this, I'm going to share about why being pro-life doesn't go against feminism.

First, let me clear things up a little. When I speak of being pro-life, I am attempting to represent the child inside a mother's womb who doesn't have the ability to speak for itself. I am nottrying to strip the mother of her right to make her own decisions. I agree, a woman should have the right to make her own decisions and not be told by others what to do. But, when a child is conceived in a woman's womb, a woman is no longer making decisions for just herself, she is making decisions for her andher baby. Therefore, the phrase "A woman has the right to make her own decisions about her body" becomes invalid, because the situation is no longer affecting solely her body, but also the child's. Just because a pregnancy is inconvenient for the mother doesn't mean the punishment for her child should be death.

The idea of feminism is that it advocates for equal rights for women and men. I'm not against this movement. I think that men and women should be treated equally. They should be paid equally for doing the same job, be looked at as capable of doing the same jobs, and be looked at as equally important and necessary in society.

Being pro-life doesn't go against your rights as a woman. Now, I'm not going to say that the most feminine thing you can do is give birth, because that implies that those who choose not to have children aren't utilizing their femininity. But I am going to say that I don't think men and women were created to be the same. Like I mentioned, they should both be treated with equal respect and dignity. But I don't think that men and women were created to serve the same purpose. Can they? Sure, if that’s what they want. But they don’t have to. In my mind, men and women were created to complement each other. In other words, they fit well together and fill the gaps that the other cannot fill him or herself. Men were created to perform certain tasks, as women were also. To me, the most incredible gift you can give is the gift of life. As women, we have the ability to do that through pregnancy. That's something that men can't do. If you ask me, that's extremely empowering and something that should be used to its full potential.

Long story short, being pro-life doesn't go against feminism because women weren't created to be equal to men. If we were supposed to be equal, men and women would both have the ability to carry children. But they don’t. Sure, there are ways and areas that women and men could and should be looked at equally. But to me, this isn’t one of them. I think that being pro-life allows us to fully accept the potential we're given as women. Being pro-life doesn’t make us women unequal to men, it allows us to fully embrace the potential that we are given.

At the end of the day though, pro-life isn't just standing against abortion. Pro-life is pro-any-stage-of-life. Pro-life activists protest against the death penalty, euthanasia and killing of any kind. Throughout my trip to D.C., I learned what it truly means to be pro-life. Pro-life is pro-woman and pro-man. Pro-life is pro-white and pro-black. Pro-life is pro-straight and pro-gay. Pro-life is pro-Catholic and pro-atheist. Pro-life is standing for life no matter what kind of life it may be. Pro-life is pro-love. And in my opinion, that doesn't go against feminism at all.