A Pro-Life Essay by Aleka Neptune, third-place winner in senior category of Pro-Life Essay Contest

I fight for human rights. I fight for life. I fight for orphans, the mentally disabled,
and those discriminated against. I fight against persecution, human trafficking, and
injustices of every kind. I advocate for those who are mistreated and unjustly
condemned. I protect the helpless and speak for those who cannot defend themselves. I
am a human rights activist… but I’m also pro-life.

No one would oppose my efforts to protect human rights. In fact, they would
applaud and encourage me. But what sets me apart is the fact that I’m fighting for an
additional cause and an additional minority. I stand for those denied life outside the
womb. I stand because I believe that life begins at conception.

The circle of life continuously revolves. The function of intercourse is to
reproduce and create life. It makes sense then that the product of intercourse is human
life. There is never an instant during the development of the embryo or fetus that can be
pointed to and claimed as the beginning of life. Instead, the individual is always alive.

The new person is never the mother’s own body but rather the product of her
body. At the moment of fertilization, the baby’s genetic make-up is complete and a
brand new person is created. Life is private property that no one else is allowed to
trespass upon. Taking away life and the blessing that life has on others is the ultimate
theft. I have a cousin who chose life when she found herself pregnant in high school
and she is forever thankful that she did. Cory’s life has now gone on to impact countless
others. I know inspiring stories of men and women who were put up for adoption by their
mothers and later grew to do amazing things with the life that could have been taken
away at a matter of weeks into their development. I am pro-life because I have seen
firsthand the blessing of life that is protected and preserved.

I am standing with pro-life convictions and rallying at capitals. I am advocating
and volunteering. I am speaking and educating because I wholeheartedly believe that
the individual being aborted is a living person, a helpless person that has no voice and
is being mercilessly and selfishly denied life outside the womb. That person has human
rights. I am the voice of those who cannot speak for themselves, the voice of the
millions who don’t get a chance to fully develop, live out their potential, dance and sing,
feel sunshine or breathe fresh air.

I am pro-life because at whatever stage and size, all life matters.