The shoe doesn’t fit

When Ohio voters passed the statewide Issue 1 earlier this month, they enshrined in the state Constitution basic reproductive rights for women, including abortion.

Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, and was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year.

I voted no, because I don’t think social issues should be codified in the Constitution. We should keep the discussion going.

Abortion is not the black-and-white issue that both sides think it is. Abortion is purely political; in its rawest form, it pits unborn babies against women.

There’s more to abortion than that, a lot more.

Women do use abortion as birth control; the far right is correct about that. I do not support that.

But women get abortions for other reasons as well. Rape. Abusive boyfriends/husbands, who sometimes force the woman to get an abortion even if she doesn’t want it. Accidental pregnancies.

Abortion did not become a mainstream political issue until Republicans made it one. Before 2020, the number of abortions was declining significantly in this country.

Abortion had declined dramatically

The Pew Research Center analyzed data from the Guttmacher Institute, which has tracked abortion rates for several decades, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The latest data from both organizations date to 2020, before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Guttmacher recorded more than 1.5 million abortions in the U.S. in 1991, about two-thirds more than the 930,160 it reported for 2020. The CDC reported just over 1 million abortions in 1991 and 620,327 in 2020, looking at just the District of Columbia and the 47 states that reported figures in both years. 

Guttmacher said that in 2020 there were 14.4 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Its data showed that the rate of abortions among women has generally been declining in the U.S. since 1981, when it reported there were 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in that age range.

In the 46 states that reported data to the CDC in 2020, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women in their 40s accounted for 4%.

The vast majority of women who had abortions in 2020 were unmarried (86%), according to the CDC, which had data on this from 39 states and New York City (but not the rest of New York).

The vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In 2020, 93% of abortions occurred during the first trimester – that is, at or before 13 weeks of gestation, according to the CDC. An additional 6% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and 1% were performed at 21 weeks or more of gestation. These CDC figures include data from 40 states and New York City (but not the rest of New York).

Church and state serve different purposes

There’s another issue at work here that Republicans, especially Christians – who, I’m sure, spearhead the pro-life, anti-abortion movement – aren’t recognizing.

Christianity is not a democracy, nor a republic. The United States is. Christian faith, or any faith for that matter, is a square peg that won’t fit in the round hole of the United States governmental system.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The United States doesn’t accept that, nor can it. The U.S., by its Constitution, is open to multiple ideas and ideologies. That’s why we have at least two political parties and independents who make their voices heard.

This is why banning abortion in the United States isn’t going to happen. Nor should it.

Of course, Christians can live out their principles, including in public – and we should.

Jesus loved women just as much as He loved unborn babies. There is plenty of evidence for this. Jesus was (and is) an equal opportunity lover of people. He doesn’t choose sides. Not in Israel and Palestine, not in Russia and Ukraine, not in China and Taiwan, not in men, women and unborn babies.

Jesus loves all.

So should we.

If we did, abortion wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.

That’s how we reduce and/or eliminate abortion. We take away the desire for it. We go after the root causes.

Abortion is a heart issue, not a legislative one.

Jesus was not an issues person. He was a people person, 100 percent. He would not march on Washington over abortion, pro or against.

But He would march to support the people involved in abortion. In fact, He did more than that. He died an ugly death on a cross for them.

Abortion is an issue. Let’s turn our attention to the people behind it, and see how our perspective changes.

A feminist whom I follow on Facebook cheered the vote results from earlier this month. In a column posted the day after the election, Connie Schultz printed photos of her four strong granddaughters (she also has four grandsons), with this comment:

Our grandchildren are too young to know or care about how Grandma navigates her days, but someday they might wonder how I spent my time on this earth when they weren’t watching. When they find out, I hope they feel proud.

She missed the irony. If abortion rights were legal, her grandchildren might never have been born.

It’s about the people. It’s about her grandchildren, and their mothers.

And all mothers.

Fathers, too. Feminists tend to think men don’t matter, or don’t matter much.

All people matter. Not in varying degrees, but 100 percent. You and me both. And everyone else.

Everyone.

That’s why abortion should not have been codified in the state Constitution. I hope it becomes irrelevant.

It’s about the people, not the issue itself.

We haven’t changed

I saw this meme the other day on a faith-based site. It’s theologically false. I’ll prove it.

Morals have changed

Morality refers to the distinction between right and wrong, between good and bad behavior.

I’m reading through 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles in a group Bible study. The study is called “The Divided Kingdom.” The division refers to Israel and Judah, because after David and Solomon, those regions split under Solomon’s son Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

The stories of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles is the story of the successive kings of Israel and Judah. Israel did not have even one “good” king during this entire 400-year period. Judah had several kings “who did right in the sight of the Lord.”

Most kings, however, “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” They worshiped multiple gods, dealt with mediums and wizards, ignored or desecrated houses of worship, committed fornication and other sexual sins, were violent with each other and with neighboring nations, and ignored the Scriptures completely.

Technology has changed since then, but our morality hasn’t. Like the Israelites 3,000 years ago, we have our moral ups and downs, but mostly down.

Churches have changed

Several New Testament authors wrote letters to newly formed churches about false teachings that were infiltrating their congregations. These writings included Galatians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, James, 2 Peter, and 1 and 2 John.

Martin Luther in 1517 wrote his “95 Theses,” which promoted two central beliefs: that the Bible is the central religious authority, and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds. Although these ideas had been advanced before, Martin Luther codified them at a moment in history ripe for religious reformation. The Catholic Church has been divided ever since, and the Protestantism that soon emerged was shaped by Luther’s ideas.

With the recent United Methodist Church split over LBGT rights, most major mainline denominations in the United States have now divided over that particular issue – even though the Bible offers clear counsel on that subject.

False teachings have tempted churches, their leaders and their members since the church age began soon after Jesus’ resurrection. They still do.

Societies have changed

The citizens of a city called Babel became very proud about 4,200 years ago. They decided to build a huge tower “so that we may make a name for ourselves.” They decided they didn’t need God; they thought that they were capable of thriving on Earth on their own.

God, therefore, confused their language and scattered them across the Earth.

As in the “morals have changed” section, Israel and Judah frequently tried to thrive without God. Whenever they turned away from God, it didn’t end well.

Much later, even Jerusalem, God’s capital on Earth, rejected Jesus Himself.

Today, we like to say “God bless America,” but fewer than 50 percent of U.S. residents are church members now. And church membership does not always indicate strong faith, either.

We still prefer to be our own gods, to form our own truth. We may not say so in those words, but that’s the way we act.

People have changed

Adam and Eve were the first sinners. They let the serpent deceive them into thinking that God didn’t really care about them. God gave them everything they needed in the Garden of Eden – they knew only good. Until Satan, disguised as a serpent, deceived them.

They fell. As has every human who has ever lived since then. And as do we.

We remain sinners in need of a savior. That hasn’t changed, and never will.

But God’s Word remains the same!

God does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

If anyone adds or takes away any words from this scroll, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life.

This saying is the only one in the meme that is true.

The bottom line

What does it all mean?

• “No one is righteous; no, not one.” This is stated clearly in Psalms 14:1 and Romans 3:10 – in both the Old and New Testaments.
• “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

The big picture of life remains the same across generations. We learn, we grow, we rejoice, we suffer, we teach, we study, we observe, we experience, we hurt, we celebrate, we live, we die.

As individuals, life changes, certainly. I’ve lived in several states, been hired and fired, attended weddings and funerals, thanked God for some things and asked God “Why?” about others.

But nothing I’ve experienced is unique. Nothing at all. You and others like you have done everything I’ve ever done, thought the same thoughts I’ve thought, been the places I’ve been, and worried over the same things I’ve worried over.

This comforts me. It’s easy for me to think I’m an island, that no one understands me. And many of you don’t. I’m a passionate Christian and a passionate journalist at the same time. Very few of you are able to connect those dots the way I can.

But the living God wired me this way, just as He wired you a certain way. Unique, and yet not.

Solomon truly was wise when he wrote, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Technology changes, of course, but people don’t.

Many of us reject God’s boundaries, and so we suffer when we bump up against the world’s more painful limitations. If every single driver followed every traffic law every time, there would never be a collision. Ever think about that?

We run the red light because we are selfish. We don’t want to stop, and we have our reasons. I’ve done it.

But there are consequences, aren’t there? Many times we get away with it. Except when we don’t. The crash. The ticket. The honk from an angry driver we cut off. The frustration in my own heart when that light turns red.

No one is righteous.

Our morals are compromised. We change our churches to fit our values. Our society changes its laws to fit its morals, not the other way around. We put self above others.

As our forefathers did.

God’s message is timeless. We need Him. We always have, and always will.

Seeking perspective

When I worked at The Saginaw (Mich.) News from 1985-2009, a city map graced a wall near my desk.

An actual, physical map.

I referred to it frequently, especially in my early years as I learned my way around the city.

When a reporter would write that a crash happened at Mackinaw and Tittabawassee, I’d check the map to make sure those roads intersect. (They do – those are two main roads in and around Saginaw.)

Occasionally I’d catch them, though, and have the reporter double-check their information.

The big picture

I took a friend to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles the other day. While there, I picked up a Lorain County (Ohio) map. I suggested to my wife that she tape it to a wall where her co-workers could see it.

Why?

Perspective.

We are all about our cell phones. GPS. Looking down. The road in front of us.

That’s all well and good, but where are we really going?

As a nation, we have turned inward. We’ve become self-centered, more concerned with ourselves than the rest of the world (generally speaking).

We’ve lost the big picture of life.

We think life revolves around ourselves. Our feelings. Our rights. Our beliefs and values.

What you think doesn’t matter, unless you agree with me.

We won’t say so directly, but that’s where we are.

We ignore the map on the wall and focus only on our individual journeys.

A geography lesson

We get bent out of shape over what’s taught (or not taught) in public schools, but perhaps we need a lesson in geography.

Geography includes physical features of the land, and descriptions of the people who live there.

If history or social studies is too controversial for you, how about geography?

We need to learn about people in other neighborhoods, in other parts of the city or county. Urban. Rural. Rich. Poor. Black. White. Hispanic/Puerto Rican.

I learned a good geography lesson recently, the hard way.

Several times a week, I drive 15 minutes to a Lorain neighborhood that’s home to a food pantry I lead. The pantry is open to the public on Tuesday afternoons. It’s a drive-through, which means patrons bring their cars to our door, and we put a food box in the back seat or trunk of their vehicle.

We get a few walkers who carry a box home in their hands or in a wagon. One such walker came on a recent Tuesday, at the same time a car came up with three people in it who all received food boxes (they were separate families riding together, a common situation).

I took the photo IDs of the three people in the car, and of Otis (the walker). I gave them all to the young man at the computer, who recorded the visits of each. I separated Otis’ ID from the others, but the young man didn’t hear me clearly – and he gave all four IDs to the people in the car.

Too late, we realized that we had given away Otis’ ID. We hoped they would realize our mistake and return it, but they didn’t.

Making amends

Otis wasn’t happy with us.

Rightly so.

To make amends, I promised to arrive at his house at 8 a.m. the next morning and take him to the BMV to get a new ID.

He was impressed that I showed up.

I had to. I was responsible for losing his ID.

I did a Google search for the closet BMV to his house, and printed directions to it. The drive took about 15 minutes each way.

In the car, Otis told me some of his story. I shared a piece or two of mine.

I told him I appreciated that he cared deeply about his ID; I’m amazed how many people show up at the food pantry and say, “I forgot my ID” – and they are driving a vehicle! How can you leave home and drive without your license?

“You can’t understand this,” Otis told me, “but as a Black man, if I don’t have my ID, I can get arrested. I need it.”

Even though we grew up in different neighborhoods, we found a thing or two in common. His sister graduated from Michigan State – I did as well – and we both had Magic Johnson stories to share.

Otis got a temporary ID, with the promise that the state would mail him his ID within 28 days.

He’s still not happy that his real ID is floating out there somewhere. If it does get returned to the food pantry, I will certainly get it back to him.

“I’m less pissed than I was this morning,” he said when I returned him to his house.

I’m going to be much more careful with the IDs entrusted to me from now on.

Hearing stories

The map of Lorain County I picked up from the BMV that day tells me all the cities, villages and townships in our jurisdiction, some nearby and some farther away.

People live in all of them.

Every one of us has a story.

As food pantry director, I’ve had a chance this summer to meet people I otherwise would not have, from across the county. I met an older white gentleman in Wellington – in the southern part of the county, where the county fair was held in late August – who was getting the runaround from his bank and the federal government, and who ran out of food and requested help.

I meet people like him and Otis at the pantry every week.

I know a homeless man who has a different address every time he communicates with me. He has a very short temper, which is why he can’t hold a job.

Everyone has a story.

We talk about meeting our neighbors, and that’s fine. But let’s look up beyond the borders of our street. Let’s get to know people in different neighborhoods.

We’re part of a city or village, a county, a nation, a world.

The map proves it.