I have always hated the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” I strongly identify as pro-choice, so does that make me anti-life? Of course not, but the terms we choose to describe stances on abortion often feel that way.

I know many people who are pro-life, but are not actually pro-life at all. Sure, they care about unborn fetuses, but they don’t care about the living, breathing mothers of those fetuses or the living, breathing babies who are going to have a terrible home life with a mother who can’t support them. If you believe that fetuses are life and you want to protect those fetuses, then I ask you to please help with the results of that stance. Please make sure you are supporting children who are in foster care, women who have been sexually assaulted, ways for women to get birth control (such as Planned Parenthood), and the environment that is in extreme turmoil due to being overpopulated.

I also ask people who are pro-life to make sure that they are thinking about all lives, and not just the potential lives of unborn fetuses. Being pro-life means you care about the lives of black people who are being shot by police officers, undocumented immigrants, the Native Americans protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the LGBTQA+ community. This also includes women who are in tough situations where they are pregnant with a child they cannot support (which means not picketing outside of clinics and making them feel worse than they already do.) There are living, breathing, already-born people who need help and support.

You don’t have to not be pro-choice to be pro-life. I care about and support and take political stances to help the lives of many people. When it comes to abortion, I am concerned about the lives of pregnant women who don’t want or can’t support a child and the lives of children who cannot be supported. If your stance on abortion is the opposite, then although I disagree, I think it is okay. I only ask that if you identify as pro-life that you actually are pro-life and care about the lives of everyone just as much as you care about fetuses.