In the midst of one of the biggest attacks on women's rights in recent history, it is time for us to come together and start a dialogue.

The first time I learned about abortion I was nine years old. I was in the car with my mom on a very busy road in my hometown, and I saw a man holding a sign that read the classic "Abortion is murder" and a woman holding a mutilated baby doll. As a child with a hefty collection of baby dolls, I was very concerned about this mistreated toy. This prompted me to ask my mother, "What is an abortion?" As a young girl being raised in the bible belt, I was met with the answer that abortion is when you kill a baby. No further explanation, just the image that people were slaughtering babies. I was horrified, and understandably so. Let me explain how I went from being a young child who believed wholeheartedly that abortion is murder to a pro-choice woman.

Fast forward many years, to high school when I began to take an interest in politics and learning things for myself. I learned about Roe v. Wade, actual abortion procedures, and women's reproductive rights in general. Huge facts in my journey to pro-choice included that the clump of cells wasn't considered a fetus until 11 weeks and that 92% of abortions are performed before 13 weeks (CDC, 2013). These may seem like they are just numbers, but most abortions take place before cells even graduate to a fetus. This is an inarguable fact.

As I mentioned before, I was not told anything more than that abortion was when people killed babies. This opinion is not an uncommon one at all. The biggest argument that people go through is that of when life starts. Often, the right stands firm that life begins at conception, while the left falls at many places on this. Life beginning at birth is most subscribed to, but there is a decent following that believes that by the third trimester the fetus is considered to be a separate being that its mother. As I grew as a woman and developed my beliefs, I came to know that abortion is not murder. Abortion is removing a growth from the body. A fetus is just that. A fetus. But, that is not to take away from the love that expectant mothers can feel for it. The fact is not meant to discredit the work that mothers who want their potential child have put in, and I believe that is where many discrepancies stem from. Yet, while many women do want their pregnancies, many do not. One of my best friends in high school, who was on birth control ended up becoming pregnant by her long term boyfriend. After deliberating all of her options, she landed on abortion. This was the best possible choice she could have made, and it was at a time when she was able to do so without any worry that she would be thrown in prison. She had the freedom to do with her body as she pleased, which is an undeniable constitutional right. I worry for the women and girls of today, who have to face this very real threat to their lives.

The abortion ban in Georgia and Alabama disgusts and terrifies me, and they should do the same to you. Safe access to abortion protects women. Period. And the thought that women are being alienated by our government and being restricted by what they can do with their bodies is a nightmare that has come to life. In a post #MeToo world, how is this being allowed to happen? Please hear my plea, don't follow the narrative that I was taught as a child. Do better for your sisters, your wives, your aunts, your mothers, your daughters. Do better for yourselves.