We Asked, You Answered: What Made You Pro-Life?

We asked our followers on social media: “If you used to be pro-choice and you’re now pro-life, what changed your mind?” Here are a few of our favorite responses.

Linda K.: An ultrasound with my third pregnancy, two days before I had a miscarriage at eight weeks. I heard her heartbeat and grieved that loss, and was reminded that the baby I aborted when I was 17 also had a heartbeat.

Jeremy L.: When I was 27 my parents told me I was adopted. I wondered about whether my biological mother had ever considered abortion. My parents informed me that at one point she had. They’ve been pro-life ever since. I am now as well.

Laura M.: Getting pregnant myself, then realizing no matter how scared and alone I was, killing the human inside me was not the answer.

Stephanie O.: I used to think of it as a religious issue, so I figured that while my religion would require me to be pro-life, others should be entitled to their own decisions. The insight that it isn’t religion that tells us that the unborn are human beings, but plain and simple biology, made me change my mind. It comes down to human rights.

Susie G.: That we’re all just “clumps of cells,” and size is an arbitrary distinction that does not negate the presence of human life. The more I reflected, the more I realized every pro-choice argument against the human life was an arbitrary distinction.

Cary: Seeing my son’s first ultrasound. Had no idea how developed of a human he would be that early in the pregnancy.

Marissa L.: I used to be pro-choice because most of my friends were. As I learned more about the abortion process, and how quickly babies develop, I couldn’t really justify the arguments I used to make, and I moved to “pro-life for me,” then fully pro-life.

Beth M.: I began doing ultrasounds and watched the tiny humans and realized I’d been lied to.

Anonymous: Being a vegetarian ultimately I thought I was being hypocritical if I didn’t care about the unborn the same way I did about animals.

Jana K.: Once I learned the history of Planned Parenthood and the racist writings of Margaret Sanger, I rejected the idea that a human being is property because of their location or the idea that your social/economic circumstances or possible disabilities made you less human or less deserving of your rights. I learned the science of fetal development and understanding of the procedures and processes used during abortions. If you believe in science, you can’t in good conscience be pro-choice.

Darcee P.: When I became pregnant with my first child. And truly learned for the first time just how fast these “clumps of cells” develop even just in the first couple weeks. The idea of murdering an innocent, living, growing baby like the one inside me absolutely disgusted me.

Jacy S.: I cared for a friend after her abortion. It was 3 days of physical hell for her. Gradually I became aware of the brutality of the procedure itself. We didn’t talk about it after that, but then one day, probably 10 years later she called me up and told me she was going on a Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. That was when I realized how much it had broken her.

Echo M.: Having an unplanned pregnancy. Wanting an abortion. Going to the hospital due to pain and being shown the ultrasound. He’s now 17 and a completely amazing human.

Kristina B.: Logic. If all humans have rights when do you get those rights? Birth? In my opinion that’s not logical. 12 weeks gestation? No. Also not logical. The answer is conception. That’s when a human becomes a human. That’s what made me pro-life.

Courtney M.: Going into preterm labor at 22 and a half weeks. My son was born without a heartbeat. I was able to hold him and love him until it was time for him to go. Hardest thing I’ve ever been through. In those moments, holding my tiny baby, I knew from then on I would never be able to support abortion again. He was absolutely perfect.

Maylin R.: Realizing that there is no other clear point to determine life other than conception and the point that children’s worth is not dependent on whether or not someone wants them.

Chelsie C.: What solidified it for me was becoming pregnant myself and seeing the first ultrasound at something like 10 weeks. It was easy prior to that to believe the clump of cells/tissue idea and that what a woman does with her body is her choice. Now I was faced with the realization that there is another living human being, completely defenseless and without a voice, involved here.

Nick M.: My pro-life wife. I had been taught that I didn’t get to have an opinion since I’m a man. My wife taught me that being pro-life is about human rights, not about gender.

Hannah E.: I was trying to back up a pro-choice point and read the Wikipedia article on abortion. I nearly threw up. I realized that I had never truly thought about or understood what abortion is. It was like a light was turned on and it realized I could never defend such a horrific practice.

Brian B.: I saw my daughter’s heartbeat on an ultrasound at six weeks and asked my wife if she knew babies had a heartbeat at six weeks, immediately angry that public school sex education neglected to teach us that.

Lisa L.: My miscarriage. Hard to believe in just a “clump of cells” when you’ve held an 8-week fetus in your hand.

Vicky D.: A teen family member with an unplanned pregnancy was being pressured to abort but she refused, and then, voila! there was the tiny new person in our family. This new family member we all had tried to convince her to kill. I went from “pro-choice” to “pro-life” when I finally saw the humanity of the unborn.