Why religion did not cultivate my pro-life views

I'd like to start out by saying that I am not anti-religion. I am just sharing my personal experiences.
Once, I had a dream that I was reading the scriptures with my family. We were reading something out of the Old Testament and one of the scriptures said something along the lines of "no one knows when life begins, but it doesn't begin at conception" (FYI, that is not a verse in the scriptures). I knew that was not true. Biology says that life begins at conception, but the bible (in my dream) said otherwise. I got really angry, but no one would believe me.
I was relieved to realize that it was just a dream, but it made me think. I believe that unborn children are alive because of a strict biological definition of life, not because my religion says so. I believe that unborn children are persons because of philosophy, not because of religion.
Personally, I don't really know what my religion is, but I have my own form of spirituality. My family is LDS, and the LDS church is anti-abortion, but they seem to have no official stance on when life begins. As a child, I got the message from church that earth life begins at birth rather than at conception or even implantation. Clearly, my religion did not cultivate my pro-life views.
I remember asking my father a question about something in The Book of Mormon. In one part of The Book of Mormon, Jesus was telling one of the prophets that he was going to be born that night. That verse didn't make sense to me because I knew that life began before birth. My dad told me two things: first, that we don't know exactly how God communicates with people, and second, that we're not sure when life actually begins.
The first answer satisfied me (at one point I had a theory that maybe Jesus had an out-of-body experience in the womb), but the second one didn't. All the theories about when the soul enters the body seemed arbitrary to me.
For a long time, I believed that life became important at implantation. I knew that it biologically began at conception, but I found myself using religious concepts to justify my view that life became important at implantation. I did this because I didn't want to believe that there were immoral forms of birth control other than abortion*. I soon realized how arbitrary this was and I knew that life began at conception.
While I believe that religion can be a positive thing, it did not help to cultivate my pro-life views. If your experience is different, great! That's just not how it worked for me.

--Mary

*I later found out that it's unlikely that oral contraceptives act as abortifacients, which I may blog about later.

The Gift of Life

What's the best gift you have ever received?

Was it that toy you wanted so badly for weeks that you finally received on your birthday? 

Was it a brand new smartphone that everyone else already had? 

 Money?

 Clothes?

 Books? 

How about life? 

The ability of a man and a women to come together as one and create new life in a way that brings them as intimately close as possible is not something to be taken lightly. 

I think that most people can agree that sex should be an action of total love, unconditional love, that withholds nothing from your husband or wife. It gives your body, your emotions, and the very core of your human being.  But as part of giving your body to your husband/wife, fertility is a part of the package (a very important part). 

 Women do not choose to be fertile and have their bodies produce eggs. Men do choose to be fertile and have their bodies produce sperm. It is part of what makes us human, and that part cannot be dumbed down to "a bunch of cells". The direct result of sex cannot be degraded as to ignore the life the baby posesses. 

Women's fertility should never be a burden, or a disease looked at to be cured. Fertility, and the physical ability to bear children, is one of the greatest, unique attributes of a woman.  And from that fertility comes a baby, sometimes unintentionally. 

When abortion is looked at to be the solution to an unexpected pregnancy, it is then that we know society has fallen so far from a high moral point. Killing a baby in the womb is exactly the same as dismembering the baby after birth. Killing is still killing, and will always be. That is not a difficult concept to grasp. 

I think Society gives abortion all these scientific terms to use, such as "Zygote" and "operation" and "Fetus" to ignore and push back the reality of what abortion is. When Aboriton is seen as the killing of a human being, it becomes a lot less like a solution and more like a crime.  

Life is the greatest gift anyone can give to anyone, regarless of age, gender, race, sexuality, or religion. Let's start with giving life to all the unborn babies who are in danger of having their lives snatched away in the blink of an eye. 

~Kat 

New questions and answers thing

Hey. We're going to start answering questions that people may have about abortion, the pro-life movement, and this blog. So if you have any, feel free to ask us questions. Here are the rules:

1. These questions can be fact-based or opinion-based.
2. Don't say anything disrespectful. We most likely will not respond, and if we do, we will probably respond with a clever comeback.
3. Don't ask us questions about our personal information or anything that might embarrass us.

So... yeah. Feel free to ask questions!

Pro-life artwork by Mary

I have exciting news...

I am having my artwork featured in a gallery exhibit hosted by Feminists for Nonviolent Choices!

The artwork has nothing to do with abortion, but here's the piece anyway:

--Mary

Mixed messages about when life begins

When I was young, I knew that life began before birth. I didn't know all the details about fertilization, but I knew very well that the unborn child was human. I knew that women had eggs in their body (I didn't know what sperm were, though), I knew what the uterus was, and I even knew what chromosomes were. I think I knew this because my mom had been pregnant a few times. I even made up a story in which babies were sent from rocket ships from heaven and that's how they got in their mom's womb.
Then I got older, and I got a different message. I was told in church that we entered the world by being born, implying that life began at birth. I was given other messages, even from people who you'd think would be pro-life, that the unborn child wasn't a real person. I now know the problems that such a misconception (forgive the pun) can lead to.
When I found out what abortion was, I strongly supported it in cases of rape, or if the woman's life was in danger, but not for any other reason. I believed that what made abortion wrong was a lot about irresponsibility and not that a human being is being killed. I sort of believed that the fetus was human, but I kind of overlooked that for a while.
Later, I was told that my aunt had a miscarriage and that I wasn't going to have a cousin as soon as I thought. But when my dad told me that, he said something along the lines of "it's not really a baby at this point, but it's a sad thing to go through, so please pray that she'll have peace." I think he was saying that so I wouldn't feel so sad about my cousin's death.
It wasn't until I started reading actual articles about abortion and prenatal development that I really knew that the unborn child was human. I started to feel even more strongly about protecting human life. I felt like it was arbitrary to say that life became important at any other point than when it biologically began.
The other day, abortion came up in a conversation with my grandma. She is against abortion, but her reasoning, like mine was a few years ago, was more about personal responsibility than anything. Later, I said something about it to my dad, and he said "I don't believe life begins at conception... I don't care when life begins." Then I asked him why he was against abortion. He said "because I believe that the unborn thing still has rights." That made me upset, and while crying, I made fun of him by asking if nonliving things, like toilets, should have rights. Then he brought up viability. I told him that viability was overrated. At some point, he said something about how a funeral wasn't held when my mom had a miscarriage. He also said that a strict biological definition of life isn't practical. Well, maybe there's something wrong with society, I thought.
Like I said, it is arbitrary to believe that life becomes important at any other point than when it biologically begins. Is it really that difficult to conceive? (Again, forgive the pun)

--Mary

Why I am pro-life

I am pro-life for many reasons. Most importantly, I'm pro-life because I'm against violence, injustice, and unfairness. Abortion is discrimination against the unborn; it is an act of violence. Why should only some humans deserve the right to live? Biologically speaking, life begins at fertilization (meaning that a human organism is formed), and I don't see how someone can be human without being a person. It all seems arbitrary to me. People are always growing or aging in some way or another, so how do people randomly choose when a growing person becomes a human? Why does location define personhood? Why is viability essential to personhood? Does being unwanted make you less of a person? Why should abortion be illegal at x number of weeks, unless if the fetus has a disability? Does that mean people with disabilities aren't human? If a fetus somehow survives an abortion, should we kill him/her? The list goes on and on.
Second of all, abortion is very traumatic for anyone who is involved. Many (but not all) women who have abortions regret their decision later on and are more likely to suffer from depression. Many abortionists regret their decisions. Fathers may either have no say in abortion, or they may regret pressuring their partners into having abortions. The same goes with parents and their daughters.
It is also important to realize that abortion can be used for other evil things. Historically, abortion was used for eugenics, and it still is. Sex-linked abortions are more common than we like to think, it is extremely common for unborn children to be aborted if they have a disability, and women of color may be pressured or even forced into abortion.
Also, women are often coerced or even forced into abortion by their partners, which is neither pro-life nor pro-choice. Many men support abortion simply so they can be promiscuous and get away with it. Abortion may even be used to "hide" the fact that a woman was raped.
Abortion is often caused by a greater problem, such as shaming, abuse, or lack of resources. Abortion doesn't solve any problems, either. Abortion won't give a woman a better job, or a more loving family, and it won't stop her partner from abusing her. It will just make things worse. Luckily, there are better alternatives. There are things women can do to prevent pregnancy in the first place, and if they do get pregnant, they can get help from a pregnancy center. After giving birth, they can choose to either keep the baby or give him/her up for adoption.
These are the main reasons why I am pro-life.

--Mary