Stand Up & Speak Up: How We Can Be Exodus Women

When I was in the 6th grade someone gave my dad a lapel pin in the shape of the tiniest baby feet. They were the size of life at 14 weeks gestational, if I remember correctly – an age at which that baby could be legally killed in our country. That was when I first learned about abortion.

Years later I wouldn’t need a lapel pin to serve as a visual. I can tell you exactly what a baby 21 weeks along looks like. I’ve had her memorized for almost 13 years now – the exact space she took up in arms, the precise size of each of her perfectly formed fingers curled into tiny fists. You don’t need a lapel pin when you wear the reminder in memories.

I know what it’s like to sit across from a doctor with your fears and tears spilling over as she tells you the baby inside you – the one with the perfect heartbeat, the one whose arms and legs are dancing a hello you can feel – will not live outside your womb. I have heard the steely offer, when the life you have stared at on screens for months now, is minimized to a medical procedure. “You have the option to terminate the pregnancy.”

And it all makes me uncomfortable. So stinking uncomfortable.

I feel like my experience should give me some sort of clarity. But if I’m honest, it kind of makes me want to bury my head or look the other way. Like a five year old, I want to scrunch my eyes tight and pretend it’s not happening. I don’t want to read the articles when New York passes their Reproductive Health Act. I’d rather not listen to the details of how legislators signed more murder into law and made their city glow pink in celebration. 

A very real part of me would like to pretend this is just not happening. 

But last week I forced myself to stay awake, aware. I read an article in the New Yorker about a woman who was told at 31 weeks along that her baby would not live outside the womb. Late term abortion was not legal in New York at that time, so she traveled to Colorado to end her child’s life. Ultimately, she became the story behind the Reproductive Health Act. Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union is quoted in the article as saying “They put a face on the issue. It changes the game when lawmakers are speaking to people who have been impacted by the law.”

That one quote was fascinating to me. One woman, sharing her story, helped pushed through the legislation that politicians had been trying to pass for nearly a decade.

As harrowing as the result is, the method should not be lost on us.

Exodus Women

I’ve been sinking deep into the Book of Exodus lately, studying it both at church and at home. And I noticed something surprising this time around, something I never paid close attention to before – the women. The males in Exodus have typically caught my attention. The book begins with the jarring story of a shrewd Pharoah’s fear of the growing Israelite population and his horrifying mandate to murder their baby boys. Of course, Moses is born right in the midst of this.

Exodus seems to be dominated by a male story line, except not. I don’t see a ton of value in continually breaking the Bible down by gender, but this is interesting to me. As Pharaoh was bent on annihilating the males to destroy the Israelite people, God uses the quieter strength of the women to ignite His plan of deliverance. 

Look closer at how this worked:

• The King of Egypt ordered the midwives to kill the Israelites baby boys, but because they feared God, they refused to do so. (1:17)

• Jochebed, Moses’ mother, refused to obey the King’s command to throw her baby into the Nile and instead bravely hid him for months. (2:2)

• When he was too old to hide, Jochebed made her baby a basket and set him afloat in the river where he was found by the Princess. (2:3)

• The Princess, the King’s own daughter, had compassion on the crying baby and usurped her father’s mandate. (2:6)

• Miriam, Moses’s sister, bravely approached the princess and offered Moses’ own mother as a nurse for the baby. Thus Jochebed raised her own son a few more years before delivering him healthy and whole to the King’s daughter.

Do you see what’s happening here? Afraid of the strong and growing the Israelite population the King decides to annihilate the males, but it is brave women that God is using in the earliest preparation for their deliverance.

These are ordinary, faithful and God-fearing women who are willing to stand where they are, use what they have, and do what is in front of them. They are women living amidst evil oppression, women who choose not to hide their faces when things get hard, but instead become women who are willing to stand and deal. Women who fear the Lord more than the king. 

That speaks loudly to this girl who knows a bit, has seen a bit, and would sometimes rather just look the other way. We can’t afford to, friend. In the face of evil, God uses brave women.

It is estimated that over 61 million babies have been aborted in our country since Roe v. Wade in 1973. I won’t pretend to understand how a nation can rationalize freedom and choice for one group of people at the destruction of another. History lessons of my youth have taught me how horrific that trade is – when we begin to value the powerful over the weak. 

We aren’t naive here. At the most basic level, doesn’t it feel like we are repeating the very parts of our history that sicken us?

We know better. How can we be so deceived? How can we stand and applaud? Or how can we scrunch our eyes tight and pretend it’s just not happening?

Women of Action

This is uncomfortable. Believe me, I get it. But I’m thankful for women of the past who were willing to stand in the uncomfortable, who were willing to speak when they were scared, who feared God more than what was in front of them.

We can be Exodus women in our time. We can share our stories boldly and support others who do. I love how Abigail Dodds has been sharing her story on Instagram lately. Follow her. Support women who speak truth even when their voice shakes.

Read up on The Heartbeat Bill which has been stalling in the legislature, kind of like the Reproductive Act did for years. We know the effects of women willing to share their stories, willing to “put a face on the issue”. We saw that play out right in front of us this month. Can we be that force for good?

There are crisis pregnancy centers around the country eager for resources – finances, mentoring, event coordinators – maybe you have unique gifts and talents that they can use?

Let your leaders hear from you. From the quiet of your home you can easily stay engaged and send an e-mail. The statistics regarding national support for abortion do not match the progress of legislation. But in order to make change we have to be willing to speak up. We can do this, friend. You and I can help here.

We are ordinary women living in extraordinary times. But are we willing to make a difference? Are we willing to stand firm and not look away? Are we willing to do what we can, where we are?

In the case of legalized abortion, New York helped lead the way and the rest of country followed suit. Let’s be louder. Let’s stay awake and force ourselves not to look away. Right where we are, let’s be Exodus women.