The Powerful Reason 6 Pregnant Moms Teamed Up For a Pro-Choice Maternity Shoot

Six pregnant women are using their bumps to send a powerful message: they made the decision to carry their babies to term and every other woman should have the right to do so, too.

Although many can't understand why a pregnant woman would be pro-choice, for these moms-to-be, their current pregnancy has only strengthened their pro-choice stance because they have firsthand experiences of the physical and emotional demands of pregnancy that many male legislators can't even begin to understand.

For this nontraditional maternity shoot, the fierce mamas worked with the Huffington Post to wear their politics on their bumps and support women's rights. Here's what each mom thinks about pregnancy, her body, and having the right to decide to become a mother:

"When I was growing up, I was a dancer, and was taught at a very young age that my body is my temple and that I own it and it's mine to do with what I want . . . I hope to instill the same thing in my daughter ― that her body is her own and no one can tell her what to do with it." — Emelyn Ocampo

"Everybody should have control over their own body. It's very simple . . . People aren't jumping in lines to get abortions. Nobody wants one. People aren't getting pregnant to get abortions. That doesn't happen . . . Going through [pregnancy], especially for the first time makes me realize how absurd it is not to have a choice. If men could get pregnant, this wouldn't be a conversation. There would be abortion clinics like there are Starbucks." — Amanda Stephen

"I think having had a baby made me even more pro-choice than I ever was before, because pregnancy is violent. Your whole body changes in such fundamental ways. Your pelvis pulls apart, your rib cage pulls apart, your breasts swell and ache, every part of you hurts. Your joints loosen, your hair changes, your feet change, your organs go crazy. It's such a violent process ― even a good, healthy, normal pregnancy that carries to term a healthy baby is a very violent process. So to be forced to do that against your will? I kind of think it would be like being raped for nine months. It's horrifying to think about." — Priya

"A woman has a right to choose whatever they want to do with their body, whenever they want to do it. . . . Until you're in it, you don't know the power of creating a human being in your body. And then the honor of raising that child in the world! It's only underscored my belief that it's your choice, and why would anyone in the world be able to tell you what you should do with your body?" — Karmela Herrera Billones

". . . After getting married, I heard about all the things that [my husband's] mom did to support a woman's right to choose. She got arrested [for performing illegal abortions] right around the same time as Roe vs. Wade. She really went out there and did what she needed to do to fight for those beliefs which I find really inspiring." — Mallory