So according to Hillary Clinton, the heart of who we are as women is not the ability to create life, or raise the children we nurture within our wombs — no, it’s the ability to kill those children. And it’s disturbing on multiple levels.

First, there’s the little problem that, quite simply, abortion hurts women. Abortion activists like to pretend that abortion can be our salvation, but in reality, it offers nothing but destruction. Abortion not only destroys life, but it destroys women who are at their most vulnerable. Women seeking abortion often feel they have no other choice but to take their preborn child’s life. They go to abortionists for help, and instead, they’re handed death and violence. And it comes at a high cost. Women are risking not only the immediate potential physical consequences of abortion, such as a perforated uterus or cervical lacerations, but also increased likelihoods of multiple cancers and of premature birth for future pregnancies. And then there’s the emotional cost: women who have abortions are at higher risk for drug and alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety, suicidal behavior, and other mental health disorders. Countless women have spoken out about how having an abortion hurt them.

Second, it’s insulting to women. Too often, abortion activists parrot this line that women need abortion. Without abortion, they claim women couldn’t be successful, couldn’t graduate from high school or college, couldn’t have a fulfilling career. And yet, for some reason, no one ever seems to talk about how insulting this is. The entire argument is predicated upon the idea that women are too weak to overcome obstacles, and are too weak to handle raising a child while working or going to school. The implication is that if something is hard, then women can’t handle it. Instead of working to make it so that women in crisis pregnancies feel they have other choices besides abortion, they offer abortion. Instead of telling women that they’re strong enough, offering resources to help them, they offer abortion. How is this pro-woman?

It’s bad enough for Clinton to force abortion into a debate when it wasn’t warranted. But to turn around and make the appalling claim that abortion goes to the heart of who we are as women — to say that women are, in essence, defined by abortion — is not only ludicrous, it’s offensive. She doesn’t say that the ability to give life defines women, the ability to grow precious children in our wombs, or the ability to be a mother defines women. Instead, she flips all of that upside down and says that our ability to destroy life in our wombs is what defines us as women.

To say that her mindset is disturbing would be the understatement of the year. No, Hillary, abortion is not who we are as women. And it never will be.

First, there’s the little problem that, quite simply, abortion hurts women. Abortion activists like to pretend that abortion can be our salvation, but in reality, it offers nothing but destruction. Abortion not only destroys life, but it destroys women who are at their most vulnerable. Women seeking abortion often feel they have no other choice but to take their preborn child’s life. They go to abortionists for help, and instead, they’re handed death and violence. And it comes at a high cost. Women are risking not only the immediate potential physical consequences of abortion, such as a perforated uterus or cervical lacerations, but also increased likelihoods of multiple cancers and of premature birth for future pregnancies. And then there’s the emotional cost: women who have abortions are at higher risk for drug and alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety, suicidal behavior, and other mental health disorders. Countless women have spoken out about how having an abortion hurt them.

Second, it’s insulting to women. Too often, abortion activists parrot this line that women need abortion. Without abortion, they claim women couldn’t be successful, couldn’t graduate from high school or college, couldn’t have a fulfilling career. And yet, for some reason, no one ever seems to talk about how insulting this is. The entire argument is predicated upon the idea that women are too weak to overcome obstacles, and are too weak to handle raising a child while working or going to school. The implication is that if something is hard, then women can’t handle it. Instead of working to make it so that women in crisis pregnancies feel they have other choices besides abortion, they offer abortion. Instead of telling women that they’re strong enough, offering resources to help them, they offer abortion. How is this pro-woman?

It’s bad enough for Clinton to force abortion into a debate when it wasn’t warranted. But to turn around and make the appalling claim that abortion goes to the heart of who we are as women — to say that women are, in essence, defined by abortion — is not only ludicrous, it’s offensive. She doesn’t say that the ability to give life defines women, the ability to grow precious children in our wombs, or the ability to be a mother defines women. Instead, she flips all of that upside down and says that our ability to destroy life in our wombs is what defines us as women.

To say that her mindset is disturbing would be the understatement of the year. No, Hillary, abortion is not who we are as women. And it never will be.