The recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade concludes that abortion is no longer a constitutional right. Many cheers for the decision came from adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and conservative evangelicals such as Southern Baptists. For almost 50 years many anti-abortionists have invoked a moral conclusion that “abortion is murder.” But is it? The word “abortion” does not occur in the Bible. Of course, life is precious, but that includes the life of a pregnant woman, as well as the fetus within her.

Frankly, abortion is not murder. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. Such a termination may happen through miscarriage. Does that mean that God has murdered an unborn?

The recent Supreme Court decision rolls back a personal freedom for women. It’s not the first time that women’s rights have been restricted. Women have been subjugated for much of human history, including much of American history. In my book, Spelunking Scripture: The Letters of Paul, I note how the Bible has been (mis)used to subjugate women. Not coincidentally, Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists do not regard women as equal to men. A woman is not considered worthy to be a priest in a Roman Catholic church or a pastor in a Southern Baptist church.

When I was in seminary back in the 1970’s, some of my classmates were women. I learned that some of them felt called by God to pastoral ministry. It was exceedingly rare for a woman to be called as a pastor of a Baptist church back then, though some American Baptist churches did call women. It’s still rare for women to be called to pastoral ministry by churches. Not surprisingly, there are no women pastors in Southern Baptist churches even today. But according to a 2021 study by Baptist Women in Ministry, of the 1422 churches affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, 105 of those churches are pastored or co-pastored by women. That’s about 7.4%.

Another stunning statistic came from an informal survey by Baptist Women in Ministry to which 555 people responded. According to the survey 25% of women in ministry have experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault in their ministry setting. The subjugation of many women continues.

I argue in the Introduction to The Letters of Paul that the subjugation of women is a cultural norm, not God’s will. Isolated verses from a few of Paul’s letters have been taken out of context and applied universally to “keep women in their place.” Such misuse of scripture fails to distinguish between cultural conditions and God’s eternal truth.

The recent Supreme Court decision subjugates women yet again. Women’s reproductive rights are being curtailed, and some religious groups are self-righteously claiming credit.