To the future child of a pro-choice woman,
I know that there are people that believe pro-choice women couldn't possibly love their children, if they ever have any – that we don’t value the glory that is human creation, and gain nothing when looking into the eyes of our children in their first few minutes of life. There are so many women who prove that wrong, and they aren’t always women presented with opportunities, who avoided an unplanned pregnancy. Young and old, women who saw no hope at the time but felt pure brilliance when you kicked in their stomachs.
Your mother is one of those pro-choice women. I have taken birth control diligently since becoming sexually active, and plan to take it until I’m ready to start my own family. I emphasize the need for contraception among young girls, and it’s because the mother in me never wants to see her child have a child. I want you to enjoy every moment of youth you possibly can, because as a pro-choice woman I understand some teens never got the choice to enjoy their youth due to an unplanned pregnancy. I’m pro-choice because I would never wish for a young individual to become a parent before they are ready, especially myself, and most especially you. I will never try to change your mind when it comes to your own sexuality and decisions, because I never wanted anyone to do it for me when I was younger. If you tell me that you would never think of having an abortion, I will love you just as much, because being pro-choice means having the choice to say “no,” and that’s okay.
While you will be a child for what will seem like years, one day you will be an adult, perhaps a woman. If so, remember there is nothing about being pro-choice that devalues the beautiful journey that is motherhood. That I do not stand resilient because I want to “avoid responsibility," because you are not a chore or a job. You are a part of me, rooted deep in my soul, and you know what they say, “a mother never forgets her child."I do not support Planned Parenthood and free contraception because I am “are terrified of pregnancy”. There is nothing I want more than to embrace my body when I carry you for nine months. Every mark, every pound, every tear and bit of sweat will be more than simply “worth it”. But right now I’m only a college freshman working part time, and for now I will have to postpone meeting you, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think of what you might be like every single day, and sometimes it’s hard for me to imagine choosing to give up one’s own child, but being pro-choice means supporting the right for women to choose. I fight for the right to choose because every woman who has ever struggled to gain access to contraception or struggled with an unplanned pregnancy is a daughter, a sister, an aunt, or even a mother. Life is about choices: the ones you make and the ones you miss out on, but I know you will be the best choice I ever made.
