This pieceoriginally appeared on Facebook, and is shared and lightly edited here with the author’s permission.
I am a pro-life Christian who marched [at the Women’s March on Washington].
I believe life begins at conception and I want to see more women choose life.
Protesters walk during the Women’s March on Washington, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC.
I grew up in the church and was told that voting Republican meant saving babies.
Something isn’t working.
Make no mistake, it breaks my heart that millions of women choose abortion… and you know what?
Many of their hearts are broken, too.
Do you believe anyone actually wants to see abortion increase?
I don’t think so.
Because even if they wanted the abortion, it wasn’t easy for them.
We should have been embracing them.
Neither does the pro-life party.
Instead, the party cuts the very programs that would help her.
She can barely afford to feed herself, much less a child.
But she should just work harder, right?
The pro-life party can’t answer that, either.
How can she work without paid maternity leave, or without affordable childcare?
The answer is that she can’t.
I marched because many of the woman who are considering abortions are women of color, or immigrants.
And what about before they get pregnant?
Fewer unwanted pregnancies mean fewer abortions.
Why do we fight to make it harder for women to get/affordbirth control?
Why are we fighting against sex ed and shaming women who get pregnant out of wedlock?
We have to earn their trust and respect, really work for it.
Listen to their stories and understand their pain.
Support efforts that make them feel less fearful about bringing a baby into this world.
Are you doing that with your current approach?
Is it hurting or hindering?
What can we change?
Is the end goal of being pro-life to win victories for the Republican party and force people into compliance?
Because I thought it was to protect life.
These women are not murderers, they are actual human beings facing a scary situation.
They are women who are loved by God and who feel they are out of options.
How many babies would have been saved if the pro-life party wasn’t the one taking their options away?
We should be their biggest champions.
At the end of the day, isn’t that what God did for us?
He gave us free will and won us over with his love.
