I know what you're thinking.
"She must be in it for the wrong reasons."
"She must have not found her real calling in life yet."
"I wouldn't want her as a teacher for my children."
And although these statements are against me and my beliefs, I don't mind that you're thinking them. In fact, I encourage it. As a future educator, I love to teach new concepts. So, sit down and listen up.
I love children. I love the earliest stages of development, when kids are first learning to string words together, act on their feelings, and have their own ideas.
I love when children speak their minds and say everything off the top of their heads.
I love being a Child Development major.
And...I also love being Pro-Choice.
When most people hear the words, "Pro-Choice" they immediately think of a 21st-century liberal who hates children and wishes there were less of them in this world.
But in fact, I'm not like that at all.
I am amazed by all the unique children I have met and continue to meet. I would never take that away from our world.
Just like I would never take away a women's right to her own body.
What a woman decides to do with her body is not her husband's decision, her mother's decision, her doctor's decision, or most definitely not her president's decision. It is HER body and she has the right to choose whatever is best for her.
If a woman knows that she is not mentally, financially, (or just in general) ready to have a child, then let it be. If going through medical procedures prevents a child from having an unacceptable home life, I'm all here for it.
"But what about adoption?"
Oh, you didn't think I was finished, did you?
In 2017, more than 690,000 children spent time in the U.S. foster care system.
In 2017, more than 69,000 children (whose mothers' and fathers' parental rights had been legally terminated) were waiting to be adopted.
Adoption can be a fantastic choice, but in reality, many children end up in the foster care system for years without a permanent home or family.
I don't know about you, but that is much sadder to me than a woman choosing to have control over her own body.
I, like many others, would like to have hope that these children will eventually get adopted into a loving family and have a forever home. But unfortunately, that's just not the reality of the situation.
If you want to be an advocate for the Anti-Choice population, go ahead and start adopting those 690,000 children. Let me know how it works for you.
In the meantime, I will continue to remain Pro-Choice while simultaneously loving and caring for the children I meet every day.
You can dislike my beliefs all you want, but I know one thing is for sure:
Pro-Choice does not mean Anti-children.