Tuesday, July 26, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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There is no establishment of religion in the United States. That’s in the First Amendment. This explains Justice Harry Blackmun’s majority opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973) where, when confronted with a Texas statute that defined life as beginning at conception, he noted the lack of consensus among doctors, philosophers and theologians as to when life begins.
He said, in part, “It appears to be the predominant, though not the unanimous, attitude of the Jewish faith … also the position of a large segment of the Protestant community” that “life does not begin until live birth.”
After finding that the 14th Amendment’s concept of personal liberty protected “a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy,” the Roe court determined that a state could not “by adopting one theory of life” override all “rights of the pregnant woman.”
And yet, on June 24, the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overruled Roe and gave each state license to do just that.
For American Jews like me and those of many other faiths, the Dobbs decision is a restriction on our religious freedom. It allows the state’s use of criminal law to compel conformity.
In the wake of the Dobbs opinion, several Jewish organizations have released statements supporting women’s reproductive rights. These statements do not advocate for abortion; however, they do make clear that abortion is permitted in Judaism, and at times required when the life of the pregnant person is at stake.
On July 5, the board of directors of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, N.C., unanimously approved a formal resolution: “Support for Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Justice” affirming the reform temple’s “unwavering support for the protection, preservation and restoration of reproductive rights in accordance with Jewish tradition.”
That tradition, according to clergy, includes “thousands of years of Jewish texts and values” emphasizing “our sacred obligation to preserve life and protect the physical health and well-being of the mother.”
Likewise, clergy at Temple Israel, a conservative congregation in Charlotte, sent an email to congregants on the day of the Dobbs ruling, making clear that “Jewish law dating back to the Torah has established that abortion IS NOT murder.” They cited the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of conservative rabbis, for the proposition that “imposing civil and criminal consequences for clergy assisting their constituents as guided by halakhah deprives our members of a fundamental element of clerical practice incompatible with Jewish values.”
Howard Olshansky, executive director of Jewish Family Services, wrote an article for the August edition of the Charlotte Jewish News headlined, “The Mental Health Implications of the Reversal of Roe v. Wade” warning of increases in stress, anxiety and depression. He reprinted a statement by the national Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies chastising the Dobbs ruling for “challenging the core principles of this country, namely the protection of privacy and freedom, including religious freedom.”
And finally, the Charlotte Chapter of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, holds itself out to be proudly “pro-choice, pro-women, and pro-Israel.” It reaffirmed its unequivocal support for complete access to reproductive health services, stressing the need for bodily autonomy.
As set forth in “Jane Against the World,” Karen Blumenthal’s book about the fight for reproductive rights, in 1967 (pre-Roe), a network of Protestant and Jewish leaders established the Clergy Consultation Service to provide counseling and referrals to doctors who would perform safe abortions. In the Dobbsian world we now inhabit, some clergy and lay leaders are once again turning their faith into action for reproductive rights.
Amy Lefkof, a mother of two, is an attorney and a member of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, N.C. She wrote this for The Charlotte Observer.
