Dear Danielle DiFeo,

I’d like to respond to your article because I am a pro-life advocate and I feel it necessary to explain my position on the matter. With scientific evidence, Christian values and my personal opinions, hopefully I can provide you with insight as to why abortion is the wrong decision for a woman to make. Governor Kasich vetoed the bill that you mentioned in your article. Instead, he signed a bill into law that bans abortion after twenty weeks. Clearly, you are a pro-choice supporter, Governor Kasich’s veto possibly delights you and the bill that bans abortion after twenty weeks may cause you distress. From where I stand, abortion disgusts me. It causes me an obscene amount of distress. This abomination, though legal, makes my blood run cold. The thought of a woman ending the life of her child to avoid the inconvenience of pregnancy and of raising a child makes me sick.

Pro-choice proponents name the unborn child a fetus, thereby shutting out the idea that the baby growing inside a woman actually has a life of it’s own. They refuse to entertain the thought that life begins at conception. Oxford dictionary plainly defines life as “The condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.” The moment the male sperm enters the egg inside a woman marks the first stage of human reproduction. The sperm fertilizes the egg, resulting in a zygote with forty-six cells. This new cell will divide and thus becomes the first of many that will develop into a human being. Six weeks into the pregnancy, this child’s heart begins beating and pumping blood. My heart is beating right now. As is yours. This is the same heartbeat that began while I was growing in my mother’s womb. Six weeks after conception, my heart began to pump blood and oxygen throughout my body. The monotonous beat hasn’t stopped since then, it will stop when I take my last breath and my soul fades away. Simply stating that the heartbeat is detected six weeks after conception proves that a living being is growing inside the womb.

When a woman becomes pregnant she will either feel elated or frightened. She will either thank God for the precious gift of life or curse God because she does not want to be a mother. In the bible, God says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5). God allows for man and woman to join together as one flesh and produce a child. The baby growing inside a woman is more than a messy jumble of cells. Instead, the child growing is a child of God. He creates us in His own image. He knows us, loves us, and has a plan for our life, even before we are born.

Before the end of the first trimester the child finishes the most critical part of development. The baby develops major organs, fingers, toes and even their own unique fingerprints. In the United States, abortions are legal up until the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy. By this time, the child who already makes different facial expressions, clenches their fist, senses light and hears sounds can legally be killed. The doctor can insert a shot through the abdomen to stop the child’s heartbeat and suck the child out of the uterus with a machine. Doctors perform these operations regularly at women’s clinics around the country thus killing the child, alive and kicking inside. The fact is, abortion is murdering your own child.

Your arguments rely on the belief that children are merely inconveniences. Associating a child with having “baggage” shows your immaturity and lack of sense. You believe it is the right of a woman to decide what is best for her body. Like it or not, God gives women the responsibility for nine months, to care for the unborn child. The child has a right to life, just as any human in this world. A mother should not have the right to kill her own child. By the millions, women abort their unwanted children. Published by the Guttmacher Study, since 1973 approximately sixty million abortions have taken place in the United States. This is killing on a massive scale; this is the definition of genocide. Abortion is not a question of what is best for the woman’s body. Abortion is only a matter of convenience. You do not care about the baby in this situation. You only care about the financial and logistical factors associated with having a child. You think the inconvenience of pregnancy and raising a son or daughter should be avoided by just killing the child.

On the topic of rape, I thankfully will say that I have never experienced this nightmare. Federal law establishes different levels of punishment for those charged with rape. No person convicted of rape is sentenced to death; instead they only serve varying lengths of time in prison. The justice system spares their life, meanwhile pro-choice advocates deem it acceptable to kill the child that resulted from the rape. It is unfortunate that men have the capacity to force themselves onto a woman but, when a child becomes the product of rape, it should then not be legal to kill the baby. The amount of abortions following a rape hardly comes close to the abortions done out of convenience. Pro Life Action published a statistic showing that seventy five percent of pregnant rape victims chose to give birth. Using this argument of rape to further a pro-choice agenda is wrong. Abortion of a child conceived out of a rape is still murder. The child conceived is the woman’s own son or daughter; what a beautiful gift out of something so tragic.

On the topic of adoption, I see that you do not support this option. You claim the adoption process to be overly expensive, timely and arduous. Instead of giving birth and giving a child a chance at life with a new family, you believe the baby should be killed. After all, pregnancy, paperwork and hospital fees become too much of a hassle. The cost of raising a child represents too great a risk for the mother. Having a child means that you actually have to spend money on something other than yourself. Raising a child adds extra expenses into a budget but, a parent must sacrifice to provide for their family. If a woman knows she does not want a child for financial reasons or lifestyle factors, then she should use birth control. However like you mentioned, contraceptive is not one hundred percent effective. A woman may become pregnant if she has sex, even if she uses some form of birth control. If this does happen, she has no right to kill the child. Perhaps the phrase, "The best things in life aren't planned," is true. Instead of taking matters into ones own hands by getting an abortion, trust that God will provide.

The bill Governor Kasich vetoed would have banned abortion after six weeks. In effect, the amount of abortions in Ohio would have been reduced drastically. The lives of many children would have been saved. I fully support this failed bill because I believe unborn children have the right to life. I believe children are gifts from God. In the bible, Jesus says "I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37). How will you stand before Him on judgment day? How will the millions of women explain the reasons why they chose abortion? One day women will have to account for why they killed their baby. In your article you write, “I wish men would stop making decisions for women and keep their nose out of our business.” I am a woman and I believe abortion is evil. I do not believe any person should have the choice to kill their own child. Abortion is more than a woman’s issue. It is a matter of life or death.