You go, girl

In 2023, it seemed that a war against women was happening. Roe v. Wade was repealed after 50 years of precedent. Governors and Legislatures across the country put the clamps on abortion. Many states set such restrictions that pregnant women were in danger of not only losing their babies, but their own lives. We saw the trauma play out on national TV.

The cruelty and heartlessness of blocking pregnancy care, which sometimes includes abortion, is a direct assault on women. And for all who claim to be pro-life, nowhere in the Bible is there a place where all life is not valued. Nowhere is abortion elevated to a place above a mother’s health and well-being. The word abortion is not in the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible is there language demonizing women who might find abortion necessary to maintain their own lives.

In fact, according to Tim Alberta, it was Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority who gave political valance to the issues of “pornography, homosexuality, drug use, divorce, secularism in public schools and, above all, abortion.” It was Jerry Falwell, in the 1970s, who first conjoined the political with the faith. That’s when Christian nationalism began.

Jeremiah 1: 5, frequently quoted to protect zygotes and non-viable fetuses, speaks to the sanctity of all life and about how God creates us for a particular purpose. To use Jeremiah as a battering ram against abortion diminishes the fullness of all life – life of the prisoners on death row, life of the LGBTQ community, life of Black America and life of the immigrant. God is not that narrow.

To rally around protection of life that is non-viable circumvents natural order. All matter, every cell, every molecule is sacred but, in the instances when I have been with people who are anguished in the necessity of abortion, there is acknowledgment of life lost, life that could have been. Women bear the brunt of the abortion issue, yet it’s mostly men making the decisions about abortion.

Women around the country are awakening to the fact that they need to speak out, rally, and vote to keep rights they thought were secure. Women’s right to vote may be next. The original language of the Constitution does not include women or Black people as voting members of the union. But here is a caution to any who find glee in sticking it to women: 2024 will be a year of the woman. Women will rise up in protest. It started with the ongoing trial of E. Jean Carroll.

Donald Trump has already been convicted of sexual assault and defamation. If that conviction were not enough, he continues to defame Ms. Carroll, sitting across from her in the courtroom. The judge has scolded him. And Ms. Carroll’s attorneys are asking, “How much money will it take for him to stop this behavior?” The price is not yet determined. The judge says Mr. Trump simply cannot control himself. We have all seen Trump unleashed. Everybody is fair game. And to cross him or criticize inflames him to rachet up his worst impulses. We all ask, is there anything that can stop him?

E. Jean Carroll may have lost her former reputation as a columnist and writer, but she will go down in history and lore as a woman who’d had enough of Trump’s venom and made herself vulnerable by telling and proving the truth trying to curb him. We can only hope loss of money will at least put a crimp in his style. Even at 80, a woman fighting back at a powerful and ruthless man is a sign of strength and hope for all women.

The summer of 2023 was dubbed by the Washington Post as “the year of the woman.” Between the Barbie movie, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and Beyonce’s Renaissance tour, women were celebrated everywhere. The article “The wealth transfer from baby boomers mostly benefits women,” speaks to the rise of women in financial circles. Women are a growing financial base. Brittany Shammas says, “This is no fleeting trend. Women are gaining more economic power. They start more businesses than their male counterparts. They earn as much or more as their husbands in 45% of households.”

The McKinsey business consulting group reports that by the end of the 2020s, “women are poised to control much of the $30 trillion in wealth expected to be possessed by baby boomers.” The article states this will be a seismic shift in how money is used. Women have different priorities than men. That alone should be cause for alarm, because women have long memories. Hit it, Santa! “You better watch out; you better not cry.”

Mama used to say, “be nice to people on your way up, because you never know who you’ll cross on your way down.” The cocktail napkins I pull out from time to time have a saying I find both hilarious and true. “Go ahead. Underestimate me. That should be fun.”

Wait for it.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com