Republicans continue to care more about fetuses than mothers.

Paul Ryan keeps opening his mouth about things, and this time he’s letting us know that rape is another form of conception. To the question of “Should it be legal for a woman to get an abortion after a rape?” Ryan had this to say:

I’m very proud of my pro-life record, and I’ve always adopted the idea that the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life.

And you know what, Paul? I agree with you. If conception happened, conception happened, whether it was rape, love-making, in-vitro fertilization, or invisible Jesus-sperm from God. If somebody got pregnant, then clearly, conception happened. Rape doesn’t change the definition of conception no more than murder changes the definition of dying. If someone is dead at the end of the situation, then death happened, whether it was natural causes or an accident or murder. Somebody died.

But can we please talk about what is really wrong with this instead of being outraged that he has placed rape into the same conversation with conception? Because that really is the least of the problems in this scenario.

I also don’t want to get into defining what life is. I’m tired of that conversation. No one is going to win the pro-life or right-to-choose battle by trying to convince the other side that life is or isn’t defined by when the semen hits the vagina. If Paul Ryan believes life begins after ejaculation, then that is what he is going to believe regardless of what anybody says, so can we stop trying to argue that point? It’s dead.

I want to know why we are trying to save the lives of babies at the expense of the mothers. ”Life” is not just about being alive and breathing on this planet. Yes, you are living, but do we no longer care about the quality of said life? Say Brenda just got brutally raped and she wants an abortion. She wants to forget it ever happened and move on with her life. However, she can’t get that where she is because Pro-Lifers have taken over the government and outlawed all abortions. Brenda is stuck carrying a painful reminder for the next 9 months. Maybe during that time she decides to give the baby up for adoption. Or on the other hand, maybe she always wanted to be a mother and decides to keep the baby. Now the kid is here, and the older he gets, the more he looks like her rapist. Now this brutal situation she wanted to forget about is staring her in the face for the rest of her life.

Why does Brenda have to go through any of that when she could’ve taken a little pill to get rid of it the day after it happened? Don’t holler at me about “all life is precious” when I’m sure you’ve stepped on more than a few bugs that are hundreds of times larger than the few cells a morning after pill would get rid of.

I don’t understand why Republicans are so attached to the “lives” of these not-even-fetuses, bundles so small you can’t even see them, yet mothers are staring them in the face saying “I don’t want to give birth for reasons XYZ so stop making me do it.” Why are Conservatives so intent on “speaking for the children who have no voice” while taking away the voices of fully adult women voicing their concerns face to face. I’m sorry for all of the little babies that would have been, but bringing humans into a world where nobody wanted them—aside from politicians who will never see them—is so irresponsible I can’t even wrap my head around it, especially since after they get here, those same politicians are hellbent on taking away any social safety nets to help the kid through life.

So that’s my problem with Paul Ryan. I don’t really care that he says rape is also conception, because scientifically, it is. I care that rape is a brutally harsh experience to go through and he cares more about a little dot of cells than he cares about the feelings of the woman who has to deal with the experience.