I love chickens.

That’s just something you should know.

I also love people.

I think that human beings are magnificent creatures that have done a lot of great things, good and bad, but all in all, we’re pretty amazing.

And so are chickens.

However, one very important distinction between people and chickens is that you can’t eat people. You just can’t. But you can choose to eat chickens. If you want.

I woke up this morning at 4:00 a.m. (not by choice) and couldn’t go back to sleep. I just had a nightmare about falling off the face of the earth (also something I didn’t choose). So I got myself out of bed, made myself a cup of coffee and decided to see what the internet was up to at this hour. Scrolling through Facebook, a lot of pro-life media was showing up in my feed. I know the March for Life was yesterday, and a few of my friends took the opportunity to join it out in D.C. I’m Pro-choice myself, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand were my friends are coming from.

But seeing all the media coverage and signs from the march was incredible. But one of the signs really struck me; it read: “I’m a Feminist[.] Pro woman, pro love, pro-life”. To the best of my understanding, this doesn’t seem like a consistent statement. Not to say that the individual's opinion isn’t valid, just that they could have used a more accurate declaration.

First, let’s get this straight: feminism is defined as “The advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men” (merriam-webster.com). I’m going to highlight the equality to men bit for this argument. As far as conception goes, men have total control of their actions and the means to those actions. Frankly, women do not have (or rather, aren’t allowed) that level of control. The 'rape case', as I’m sure many of you have heard, is a clear example of this. If a woman is raped, her rights concerning conception (note: conception, not abortion) are being violated. If that woman isn’t ready for or does not want this child, her options are extremely limited. Unlike a man, the woman now, under the pro-life perspective, must carry a child for the next nine months, disregarding the fact that the woman may not have wanted a child in the first place, let alone her rapists. Because of this possibility, men have more freedom of choice than women, which means that the one rule of feminism is being violated. Therefore, one cannot be a true feminist and pro-life.

To all the pro-life people out there: your opinions are valid. You have a voice, and you should use it! That said, I’m going to use mine as well. Being a feminist and pro-choice, I feel like the pro-life side of this argument often gets the wrong impression of what pro-choice actually means. The most important thing you must understand is this: pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. Let me explain.

Take a chicken, for example. There are hens (female chickens) and roosters (male chickens). Hens lay eggs, which can be consumed, given that a rooster did not fertilize them. For this example, say the eggs were fertilized, but for some reason the hen did not sit on the eggs. Going one step further, say this hen was forcibly bred. Would you yourself force the chicken to sit on the eggs? Say the fertilized eggs were not properly cared for and never develop into chicks. There is no body, no organs, just cells. Is that egg the same as a chicken? No. It’s not.

At any stage, before the chick is fully developed, it is not a chicken. If one considered a fertilized, non-developed egg to be a chicken, that means that cracking that egg into a skillet would be virtually the same as frying a chicken breast. Frankly, that egg wouldn’t taste anything like chicken.

My point is, I don’t believe that abortion should be likened to murder. It is a last resort shot at being in control of the rest of a woman’s life and should be regulated to the highest extent. That said, I hope with every ounce of my being that no woman will ever be in a position that leads to this end.

Having a child isn’t like waking up at four a.m. or having a dream; it’s a matter concerning the freedom of choice. As a woman, I want my rights and my options to fall subject to me, not my inability to fight back. Pro-life people: I hear you. All I want is for you to hear our side too. Don’t be a chicken: we’re willing to talk if you are.