Before we begin, I'd like to make one thing painfully clear: I'm not here to change your personal beliefs on abortion.

When it comes to hotly debated topics such as same-sex marriage, abortion, welfare, etc. everyone has their own opinion and everyone is entitled to that, which is exactly why you should vote pro-choice.

Now, please don't misunderstand me, I would never have an abortion myself. In the case of an accidental pregnancy, I don't think that I would be emotionally, spiritually nor physically capable of making a decision like that and carrying it out. This is my personal choice that I have made for myself and this is why I am politically pro-choice.

Although I never see abortion as a viable option for myself, that decision was left up to me and every woman should have that same opportunity. By voting pro-choice, I'm not saying that everybody should get an abortion or that I'll be getting one or anything like that, I am quite literally pro-women making conscious decisions for themselves and their bodies. It is not my place, nor anybody else's, to tell someone what to do with their own body if it isn't hurting anyone.

Going off of that, a crucial part of this conversation that we need to address is that if abortion isn't legal, women wanting abortions won't go away. There will always be unwanted pregnancies or pregnancies that danger the mother and/or the fetus and by taking away safe, legal abortions, we'll live through another generation of coat hanger abortions and women having to go to insanely sketchy clinics. I value safety for people more than anything. Seeing as only 1.3% of abortions take place after the 20-week mark (according to the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit, pro-choice organization), 98.7% of fetuses aborted are incapable of living outside of the womb on their own, and thus shouldn't be viewed as people.

Our goal as a society should be to protect those in our community, even if we don't inherently agree with their choices. We are all unique individuals with differing perspectives and that's what makes our world so rad and diverse. However, we can't push our beliefs on other people or else it completely demeans what we as a society have worked so hard for.

I know better than anybody else what is best for myself. This applies to everybody on the planet. So, why should my beliefs dictate another woman's decision on what to do with her body? Your personal values don't have to be compromised in order to protect what will keep everyone in our country safe and healthy.