Has anyone ever asked you if you are pro-life or pro-choice? Those terms are often used to refer to one’s opinions on abortion. 

People who claim to be pro-life believe that life starts after conception and that aborting a baby is morally wrong because it would kill it. On the other hand, people who claim to be pro-choice believe that during pregnancy, a woman should be allowed to choose whether or not she wants to have the baby. 

For many reasons, abortion is an extremely difficult topic for people to talk about. However, I believe that if we look at the two terms from a more general stance without the context of abortion, you might realize that most people are actually both. 

Truly being pro-life would apply that you care about all lives. As we look at the world, we are often affected by people dying whether we know them or not. 

When we discuss and protest about the thousands of people who are getting killed in Gaza on the daily, we bring awareness to suicide and some people get triggered over the concept of death itself. 

Why do people react like this around people who are dying? It is because the thought of people dying, and getting killed subconsciously invokes intense feelings in us. 

Growing up, I was always told that no one is ever promised a tomorrow. Sep. 11 marked the 23rd anniversary of 9/11; a day that has impacted many Americans because approximately 3,000 innocent lives were lost that day. If one were to truly claim to be pro-life, they should factor in all lives, including human lives and animal lives.

As for being pro-choice, it at first may seem something that is in direct opposition with the pro-life movement regarding abortion, but let’s think of “pro-choice” in a more general sense. 

When you think about it, we constantly have to choose what we want to do with our bodies all the time. From vital everyday things such as what we choose to eat and drink, what we put in our bodies, such as vaccines, to giving ourselves body modifications, such as piercings and tattoos. 

If we didn’t have the ability to choose what we wanted to do with our bodies, life would be even more difficult to live than it already is. Every day we choose what we do with our bodies, and if we are truely pro-choice, we shouldn’t try to control whatever people do with their bodies, because it is their body, not yours.

My main issue with the usage of the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice”, concerning abortion, is that it only captures a very small percentage of a bigger picture. 

While abortion is a very important topic that we need to cover, I think that if one claims to be 100% pro-life, you should be pro-life all the way for all human lives, regardless of race, sexuality, gender and religious affiliation. On top of that, you should also factor in other lives such as animals, plants and even the smaller unpopular organisms, such as spiders, ants, and pests. 

Likewise, if you are truly 100% pro-choice, you can’t dictate what a person can or can not do. Whether someone decides to smoke, self harm, and if someone chooses not to take the COVID vaccine, you should just act as a bystander regardless of the consequences. 

However, if you factor everything outside of just abortion, it is very difficult to be 100% of one thing without the other. 

For example, many people who claim to be pro-life might also eat foods such as chicken, eggs, hamburgers, sushi, which all come/derive from animals, and people claiming to be pro-choice may often advocate for the lives and well beings of minorities, lives being lost around the world, as well as advocating against animal cruelty. I think if we want to talk about it in just the context of abortion alone, I believe a better term would be “anti-abortion vs. pro-abortion.”