As a young woman who was born premature (during the 8th month of my mother's pregnancy) and as someone whose best friend was born when her mother was only six months pregnant due to a medical complication, I cannot stay silent while late-term abortions remain legal in places like Canada, Australia and some US States.
In states like Colorado and Maryland, abortion is legal up until the very moment of birth.
This is not "choice".
This is the legal ending of lives that could survive and even thrive outside the womb, just like mine and my friend's.
If our mothers had lived in those States, they could have legally chosen abortion instead of giving us a chance to live.
That thought is unbearable to me.
Today we are here, alive and grateful for our lives, but countless others never receive that chance.
Medical science shows that by twelve weeks, preborn babies can feel pain.
In a second-trimester abortion, the baby's body is often torn apart while still alive during a D&E procedure.
In third-trimester abortions, a lethal injection is given to stop the baby's heart, and then the mother still has to endure labor.
Even when a mother's health is in danger, abortion is not the answer.
A C-section can be completed in about two hours at most, while a late-term abortion takes days.
The only cases where some argue abortion should remain legal in the second trimester, like a fatal fetal diagnosis, deserve compassion, but even then, it is better for a baby to pass away in their mother's loving arms if she can emotionally cope with it, than to be violently destroyed in the womb.
And if a mother still decides to have a late-term abortion, it woukd be better to get it done at a hospital, and I'm sure people would step up to help pay the medical bills as much as they can.
The same would go for a C-Section and hospital stay, plus the baby's funeral afterwards.
There are about 144000 late-term abortions every year in the United States.
That is 144000 unique, irreplaceable lives.
Instead of expanding abortion access, we should expand support, whether it be financial, emotional or medical, for mothers facing difficult pregnancies.
I call on lawmakers at every level to take immediate action to close all late-term abortion facilities in the United States.
Protect the most vulnerable.
Protect the voiceless.
Protect life.
Please, join me in demanding an end to late-term abortion.
Every child deserves a chance at life.
