Resolution Supporting Freedom of Access to Reproductive Health Care

 Background:

According to Judaism, life begins at birth. Though cherished as potential life, a fetus is considered part of a mother’s body and not a person until birth. Consistent with the Jewish obligation to heal oneself and others, Jewish law prioritizes the life and health of the mother and thus permits the full range of reproductive health care currently available, including assisted reproductive technologies, birth control, and medication and surgical abortion.^[1] While Jewish law favors abortions performed as early as possible, late-term abortions are allowed and sometimes required, particularly when complications can develop that endanger a woman’s life or health, which includes her physical and mental health and her ability to bear future children.  According to Maimonides, the fetus has the legal status of the rodef, a pursuer who endangers the mother’s health or life in the case where a developing fetus would cause harm to the mother. ^[2]3]. This is clearly stated in the unanimously approved statement of the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards authored by our colleagues Rabbis Susan Grossman and Avram Reisner in Winter 2023. ^[3]

Whereas the Rabbinical Assembly for five decades has passed resolutions in support of reproductive freedom^[4] and forty years ago, became a founding member of the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice (RCRC); and

Whereas in Dobbs v. Jackson, decided in 2022, The Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, that the Constitution of the United States does not guarantee the right of abortion, returning to states the ability to regulate abortion thereby weakening women’s access to abortion, jeopardizing women’s health, and depriving us as Jews of the right to follow Jewish religious beliefs and traditions; and

Whereas 15 states have enacted near-total bans on abortion, some without even exceptions for rape and incest, putting the lives of countless women at grave risk, potentially imprisoning the women themselves and those who help them, even for spontaneous abortions (miscarriages); and

Whereas in some states with extremely limited exceptions including for the safety of the mother in their abortion bans, state officials have overridden doctor’s medical expertise not allowing this exception as well as created rules that are so punitive doctors and medical facilities are too fearful to provide this necessary life-saving healthcare^[5]; and

Whereas an increasing number of jurisdictions have enacted legislation and regulations that have forced the closure of countless women’s health clinics that provided access to the full spectrum of women’s health care, including but not only reproductive health and abortion services, thus further endangering the lives and health of countless women by denying them timely and accessible care; and

Whereas, in light of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling, Page v. the Center for Reproductive Medicine^[6] where embryos are considered children and people who destroy them can be prosecuted for the wrongful death of a minor, depriving couples struggling with infertility a way to fulfill the commandment of pru u’rvu as well as possibly creating ethically questionable situations where embryos with painful life ending diseases need to be implanted.^[7]

Whereas there are continued attempts to restrict and entirely ban medical and surgical abortions, birth control access, and assisted reproductive technology options;  ^[8]

Therefore be it resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly supports the Women’s Health Protection Act (S701) prohibiting governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services and immediately providing abortion services if delaying would risk the life or health of the patient therefore enshrining the right to abortion in federal law; and

Be it further resolved the Rabbinical Assembly supports legislation protecting the transport of medication for birth control and abortion across state lines; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly supports the Federal Drug Administration’s continued approval of Mifepristone which has been in place for over 20 years as one of the least invasive ways to terminate a pregnancy as well as the right of doctors to treat their patients with the current standard of care without fear of civil liability criminal prosecution; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly supports reproductive health care legislation and decision-making that preserves the right of Jewish women to follow Jewish religious teachings and traditions when making their own health care decisions; and

Be it further resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly calls on our colleagues in the United States, especially those who live in states with restrictive abortion laws, to contact their state’s elected and appointed officials to advocate for the full spectrum of women’s reproductive health. The Rabbinical Assembly also calls on its colleagues nationwide to contact their members of Congress and administration officials to support S701, which enshrines the right to an abortion in federal law, as well as engage in education, advocacy, and coalition building.

Be it further resolved, the Rabbinical Assembly calls on its members to fund local reproductive health services.  We urge RA members to serve as a resource for those fleeing states with restrictive abortion laws seeking health care (and a termination of pregnancy if necessary) by providing or finding housing, transportation, and other aid so they can receive a safe, legal, and low-cost abortion.  Furthermore, we call on Our RA to continue to[1] [2]  with the National Council of Jewish Women’s Jewish Fund for Abortion Access to ensure adequate funding for necessary reproductive health services.