By Annamarie S., Rochester, Minnesota
Editor’s note. As Scott Fischbach wrote Monday, we are posting all four winners of the Senior Division of the 2021 NRLC Essay contest this week and all four Junior Division winners next week. Each contestant was asked to write an essay of 500 or fewer words on the simple but fundamental question of “Why are you pro-life?”
I am pro-life because I am pro-science. When conception takes place, the human zygote, which is composed of its own unique, human DNA, is completely and independently itself. After just 18 days the baby’s organs are fully functional. Science proves that life begins at conception, and those that justify abortion by arguing otherwise are not arguing science.
I am pro-life because I am pro-woman. America’s first feminists, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who led the fight for women to gain their vote to vote, property, and an equal education, also spoke out against abortion. These two women embraced the role of the non-violent fight in order to achieve equal justice for all, which is exactly what the pro-life moment of American is all about, fighting for the equal distribution of basic rights and just toward the unborn.
I am pro-life because I am pro-faith. Jeremiah 1:5 states, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” and Psalm 139:14 states, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Before we were conceived, God knew us and had a plan, purpose, and meaning for each of our lives. Every life that comes into the world has been touched by God and deserves the opportunity to fulfill their God-given purpose, which is only possible with protection from the beginning of one’s life, at conception.
I am pro-life because I am pro-American. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the purpose of Happiness.” American law states the undeniable fact that all men are created equal and have the inalienable right to life, which begins in the womb.
I have grown up in a strongly pro-life household, but I am proud to say that I have personally developed a strong passion for the pro-life movement and fighting for the rights of the unborn. My personal hero, Mother Teresa, once said, “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but uses violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love is abortion.” Jesus preached the greatest commandment is to love, and I find it in personal calling to work and advocate for the end of abortion, which acts as a direct destruction of love. I will continue to fight and advocate for the rights of the unborn until the sanctity of human life is protected from its beginning, at conception, to its natural end.