Mother’s Day is often a time of joy and happiness, either honoring our own mothers or being given special recognition as a mother ourselves. Because of my job (or I’d rather call it my vocation) of working to make abortion unthinkable, I confront some form of motherhood daily: whether it’s the terrified student mom on campus who is torn between her education and her child, the mother who regrets her abortion, or the woman waiting patiently to be a mom but is facing unforeseen struggles to even get pregnant.

All mothers need support and encouragement. Science proves that a new life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore, mothers are mothers before they even hold their child in their arms. They even experience physiological changes to their body immediately following conception before a pregnancy test can detect their child’s life.