I am pro-life.

I didn't used to be. Before I came to college, I would have probably considered myself pro-choice. Sure, even though I thought that abortion was wrong and I would never get one myself, I believed that I shouldn't have a say in what other women did with their bodies. I believed that it wasn't up to me. Why should I force my beliefs on somebody else?

I also asked myself why should I tell a woman not to get an abortion when I had no idea what she had been through? I've never been in the situation of a crisis pregnancy, so why should I tell them what they should or should not do in that time?

Here was the problem with my way of thinking.

One common argument for being pro-choice is that it is "My Body, My Choice." And yes, while the mother's body is extremely important and should be taken care of, there is another body that we are forgetting about. That body that is forming inside of you is not yours. It is growing and preparing to become independent from their mother. That body has their own heartbeat, their own organs, and will not need to be connected to the woman after birth. Acting like taking out a fetus is like taking out an appendix or another unneeded, non-living organ is not only degrading, but also factually incorrect.

So, I am going to use a phrase here that I know pro-choicers are sick of hearing, but life truly does begin at conception. According to the website LifeNews, "“The fusion of sperm and egg membranes initiates the life of a sexually reproducing organism." Even if you are pro-choice, but you believe that life does begin at conception, that is an acknowledgement that there is another life besides the woman's, so it is not just "My Body" to consider, but the body of somebody else.

Speaking of "My Body," something else I began to think about was that there sure seems to be a lot of "Me, me, me" within the pro-choice campaign. I understand how important it is for anybody, whether man or woman, to take care of themselves and do what is best for them, but gosh, it sure seems as if there are a lot of women in this campaign who only seem to think of their own self-interests. As I said earlier, women believe that their bodies are the only thing to think about in their choice of abortion.

Take this quote from Jill Filipovic, a writer on EverydayFeminism.com: "I am pro-choice because I don’t believe that women should be legally compelled to maintain another life at the expense of her own wishes, her body, her health, or even her life."

One of Hillary Clinton's most famous slogans throughout her campaign was "Love Trumps Hate." Whether religious or not, Mother Teresa said it best: "The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want."

Mother Teresa also said that "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." My heart breaks for the woman who feels as if she is trapped, as if she has no other option than to get an abortion. I am saddened when I hear stories of women who were forced by boyfriends, husbands, family, or whomever else to get the procedure. And maybe that says something about us as a society. We have given women so many options to have an abortion, but yet don't work hard enough at giving women other options.

Being pro-life doesn't mean that you scream at women outside of Planned Parenthood. It means you ask the clinic if there are any women that need any sort of help that you can give.

Being pro-life means helping and supporting the mother after she gives birth, as well as during her pregnancy.

Being pro-life means at least considering the possibility of adoption and foster care. According to FosterClub.com, in 2014 there were over four million kids in foster care in the United States alone.

Being pro-life means being proactive and not bashing, shaming, or manipulating anyone, but rather being the change that you wish to see in the world.