To pro-lifers: you might have your L-words mixed up.

Hi! I’m 37 weeks pregnant!

Here I am, writing a blog even though I feel pretty darn uncomfortable at the moment. There’s been numerous issues I’ve been wanting to write about, haven’t felt up to, but on the topic of the pro life movement, perhaps there is no better time to write than at this moment.

Just recently, the Catholic News Agency came out with this: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pro-life-group-announces-52-million-war-chest-for-2020-election-90365?fbclid=IwAR3x8xR1L3KltLCkaiZHJfCJEoc_Gw5H7l4uRq3xvGhaUQisq_psvbQZpVo

As someone who considers herself prolife, you would think that this news would make me happy.

But I must admit, it really does not.

When I got pregnant for the first time, I got a list printed out for me entailing things that I shouldn’t eat and medicines that I shouldn’t take. There are of course the well-knowns: I shouldn’t drink alcohol or smoke. Some of these things- especially the last 2- haven’t been much of a sacrifice to give up.

But the result of receiving such a list for me was the realization of how much power I actually have in my hands over my pregnancy.

That ends up working out in this case. I love my unborn daughter. It is through love that I eat when I don’t feel like eating (i.e. even after vomiting). It is through love that I choose to do what is best for my unborn child. I make every sacrifice, bear every second of pain, 24-hours a day, for 40ish weeks on end because of that love. It is through love that I watch wild kids like a hawk, making sure that they don’t run straight into my stomach. No one can protect my unborn baby the way that I can.

And all of these things that I do day after day, hour after hour, there’s no chance that the government can ensure that I do them. That’s why I’m currently confused at the approach of the pro-life moment. How do people actually think that changing laws will protect the unborn in situations where the mothers are NOT on board? Because if a woman wants to end her pregnancy badly enough, there’s enough she can do, all on her own even without doctors, to increase the chances of miscarriage.

These things are horrible to think about. I don’t *like* that women have this much power. You probably don’t like that women have this much power. But it’s been deemed that one human carries the burden of bringing another human into this world.

Do I think that every unborn child is worth protecting? Absolutely. But the only way that I can save Susie’s baby is to go to Susie.

We save lives when we can encourage the mothers to save them. They can only choose to save these precious lives if they choose love.

And how do we convince someone to choose love? We can only do so by loving them first.

One in 4 American women will experience some form of sexual harassment or assault in her lifetime. When pro-life people support pro-life politicians who have sexually abused young women (Roy Moore) or who continually objectify them (like Donald Trump), some women might fail to see your love for them in those actions.

At this point, you are substituting law for love. You have your L-words mixed up.

So let me say this to those supporters: STOP. ACTING. LIKE ELECTING PRO-LIFE POLITICIANS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE UNBORN LIVES. In fact, even electing all wholesome pro-life politicians is not what will save lives because the government does not have that ability, regardless of what human law is written down.

To be clear, there are pro-life people who understand the concept of reaching out to women. I know women who work at pro-life pregnancy centers. When Christians gather outside of abortion clinics, at least some of them understand at some level that these actions are about reaching the women with unwanted pregnancies and encouraging them to change their minds. And the most noble people I know want to actually love, walk beside, and help them get through such pregnancies.

So back to the Catholic News article and what bothers me about it. From the article: “we prioritize face-to-face communication with voters, one-on-one conversations, and hopefully we will be successful.”

Basically, all of the volunteer time and manpower they are putting into talking with people to vote for politicians could be spent talking to women face to face or on social media (if done respectfully) to encourage them to choose life and challenge their ideologies.

My entire life changed in 11th grade history class, hearing about how a book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, helped sway many people to the abolition movement. On some level, I recognized that we have to put time into changing people’s hearts before we should try to change the law. I vowed to become a writer, focused on the pro-life cause in particular, and hoped that I could influence women to choose life. In 2003, I began writing a screenplay about a young woman who chooses to go through with a difficult pregnancy. Nothing ever came of it.

It’s ironic to me that I’m sitting here writing a blog not to pro-choicers, but to pro-lifers. I do hope that one day most people in this country will be pro-life again. Right now, it’s the politicians that are the face of the pro-life movement. Let’s make a greater effort to show our hearts of love and make that the most prominent thing that others see.

And yes, I believe that prayer helps, too.