Many people that claim to be pro-life claim to be so because they want to support the life of the child. How is it, they suggest, one can claim that the being inside the mother's womb is not a human? This is nothing but a strawman argument set up to equate abortion to murder. Once abortion can be equated to murder then the case can be made for outlawing it, much like murder. However, outlawing abortion would do nothing in the interest of a person that is really Pro-Life.

To equate abortion to murder is a very dangerous act. It is dangerous because it removes the human, and moral, qualities of the woman, or possibly teenager, seeking the abortion. Ignoring the emotions of a post-abortive woman would be to deny her the humanity that the faux pro-lifers seek to protect for the child. Having been around both expectant mothers who have miscarried and women who have been both upset and relieved to find out they were not pregnant, it is not hard to deduce that motherhood is a very emotional ordeal. Abortion is seen as a last resort.

Of course, many will counter that some use abortion as their sole means of birth-control, but they are being disingenuous since they are at the same time implying that those who support abortion also support its casual use and by suggesting that the acts of an immoral few should be reason to deprive the vast majority of women the right to control their bodies.

Abortion is ugly, however, the reasons for having abortions are often uglier. Some mistakenly believe that if a woman is raped, that she cannot become pregnant from the rape. Few (thankfully) understand the trauma resulting from rape, and the sense of a loss of control over one's body. Forcing a rape victim to carry a pregnancy to term is to once again to deny that victim the ability to control her body.

It is not enough to suggest that we can make laws against abortion and still provide exceptions in the cases of rape and incest. The judicial system is not a very friendly place, especially to victims of rape. Only 16 percent of rapes ever go reported in the US. There are many reasons for this, but one is that forcing a rape victim to tell what happened to him or her (and then to be cross-examined in a usually even less friendly manner) is tantamount to forcing the victim to relive the trauma over and over again. It is understandable why going to the police and prosecuting a case is so rarely chosen. If we make laws against abortion but with the exceptions of rape and incest, then victims will be forced to go to the court to get an abortion. That is not likely to settle well with a 13-year-old that gets pregnant from her father. Abortion is a last resort, let us not remove it.

One can be both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Being Pro-Choice results in being for the life of the mother.

Just because one is Pro-Choice doesn't mean that the life of an unborn child is unimportant. Different avenues can be taken to ensure that the number of abortions being performed remain steady or decrease in numbers. Treating rapists and child molesters as being mentally ill would go further in helping to lower the recidivism rate among past offenders. Very often the sicknesses that these offenders suffer go untreated in state and federal prisons making repeat offenses just as likely. 52 percent of convicted rapists will be arrested within three years of release. Decreasing the number of sexual assault cases will result in lower rates of pregnancy and abortions related to sexual assaults. Also, child adoption should be promoted in the general population to both increase the rate of child adoptions and to raise the awareness of this alternative to abortion. Increased availability of contraceptives, as well as emergency contraceptives, is another means to decreasing abortions.

To be both for the life of the mother and the life of the child, steps must be taken to decrease the number of abortions while still making abortions easy and legal to obtain.