In no way am I trying to alter the opinions or anger those who read this, I am simply explaining my personal belief that you cannot be pro-life if you support the death penalty.

Approximately two years ago I became incredibly interested in politics, and with that came a lot of soul-searching. This soul-searching was me figuring out what I believe in and why I believe in what I do, and with this self-exploration, I came to the conclusion that along with many of my fellow Republicans I consider myself to be pro-life.

Let me first make it crystal clear that in no way, shape or form am I trying to condemn any woman that has chosen to have an abortion, I personally don't agree with the practice but I understand that sometimes there are situations where women have to make a choice and it can't be easy, therefore I encourage anyone reading this to try and understand this and quit being judgmental.

You cannot be pro-life and support the death penalty. I recently tweeted this, and there were of course, several Republicans who disagree with me on the subject. That's perfectly okay...you're entitled to your own opinion, but as that ideology works both ways, I am also entitled to mine.

According to many websites the definition of 'pro-life' is 'opposing abortion and euthanasia,' however I don't like this definition because it doesn't incapsulate what I believe the true meaning of what it means to be pro-life is. The word 'pro' means 'for' and the word 'life' means 'the ability to grow/change,' and if you smash those two definitions together you would have something in the realm of, 'for the ability to grow and change.' Relative to abortion, this new and improved definition shows that you are in support of an unborn child's ability to grow, to go along with this argument, people grow and change all the time: physically, mentally, spiritually...which means that if you say that you are for the ability of someone to grow and change, you're for this ability for all people, this doesn't exclude the people sitting on Death Row. If you're on Death Row, there's a good chance that you're there for a reason, murder being a prime example. If you intentionally kill someone, you deserve to be punished, that's not an opinion, that is a fact. Murder is wrong on every single level, and if you agree with this statement you cannot support the death penalty, because regardless of whether or not you believe someone deserves to die for their actions, the death penalty is murder. Every person that makes the decision to send someone to Death Row is making the conscious choice to take a human's life, and morally, that is wrong. It's not the job of a human to place this sort of punishment over someone, it's God's job to institute whatever punishment He sees fit, and I can almost guarantee all of you "God-fearing Conservatives" that your God, that my God, wouldn't condone murder in any form, even the form you seem to believe is justifiable. If you're on Death Row, you most likely did something horribly wrong--but there is still a chance you didn't. 1 in 25 people on Death Row are innocent, and occasionally they're exonerated, but sometimes they're slain for a crime they didn't commit. The death penalty, the taking of another human's life because of something they may have done, is not the answer.

There are a lot of grey areas when it comes to politics...a lot of situations that can only be answered with a simple 'it depends,' but politics and morals are two entirely different items. When you're looking at morals--what's right and what's wrong--there isn't a grey area, there is what's right and what's wrong. For me, conversations about abortion and the death penalty are the exact same way. Morally, abortion is wrong. Morally, the death penalty is even more wrong.

Murder is wrong; for my fellow Republicans spouting off this statement at women who have chosen to have an abortion, if you support the death penalty you are a hypocrite, plain and simple. You either value the sanctity of life or you don't, the conditions for which someone is going to be killed do not justify the carrying out of a murder.

Pro-life to me means so much more than anti-abortion. Pro-life means that every human being, born or unborn has the right to the ability to grow and change. This includes men, women and children, not only in the United States but in every nation. The term 'pro-life' is intended to encompass the ideals of a group that opposes abortion, but this term says much more than that and I hope that in the future people who claim to be pro-life, are truly pro-life for everyone.