‘It’s horrifying’: Jewish leaders react to news that Supreme Court on verge of overtu

[Guno צְבִי]

Politico unleashed a blockbuster Monday night: a draft copy of a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing most abortions. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” declares the opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and expected to be signed by at least four colleagues. The revelation of a pending opinion is unprecedented, and it will undoubtedly intensify the debate over what is already the most contentious case on the court’s docket.

Supporters and opponents of abortion rights immediately flocked to the Supreme Court steps – and social media. “Judaism allows and requires abortion in many circumstances,” tweeted Blimi Marcus, an Orthodox nurse practitioner and professor. “An overturned Roe will result in Jewish women everywhere being unable to practice their religion.”



Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, a leader of the National Council of Jewish Women’s “Rabbis for Repro” initiative, echoed those sentiments. “Abortion bans are a violation of religious freedom,” she tweeted. “As well as a violation of dignity, autonomy, basic human rights.”

“The anti-abortion views are rooted in a specific Christian belief that life begins at conception and that abortion, therefore, is murder. Jews don’t believe that,” he says. “The state of Israel, which so many evangelical Christians support unreservedly, has had legalized abortion since 1977.”

https://forward.com/opinion/columni...-wade-decision-is-a-win-for-religious-fervor/

 

[Lionfish]

 

[Guno צְבִי]

The Talmud, a two-part Jewish text comprised of centuries worth of thought, debate and discussion, is also helpful when discussing abortion. The Talmud explains that for the first 40 days of a woman’s pregnancy, the fetus is considered “mere fluid” and considered part of the mother until birth. The baby is considered a nefesh – Hebrew for “soul” or “spirit” – once its head has emerged, and not before.

Rabbi Elizer Waldenberg, a leading authority on Jewish law who died in 2006, wrote in Tzitz Eliezer, his major text, that "it is clear that in Jewish law an Israelite is not liable to capital punishment for feticide. ... An Israelite woman was permitted to undergo a therapeutic abortion, even though her life was not at stake. ... This permissive ruling applies even when there is no direct threat to the life of the mother, but merely a need to save her from great pain, which falls within the rubric of ‘great need.’”

“There’s a lot of ambiguity about what that need means,” Ruttenberg says. “A psychological need is considered real.”


Extreme right wing conservatives, that specific segment of Christianity, has co-opted this entire discussion. ... They present themselves as speaking for all people of faith when that is really not the case.”

 

[Monad Portal]

Politico unleashed a blockbuster Monday night: a draft copy of a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing most abortions. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” declares the opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and expected to be signed by at least four colleagues. The revelation of a pending opinion is unprecedented, and it will undoubtedly intensify the debate over what is already the most contentious case on the court’s docket.

Supporters and opponents of abortion rights immediately flocked to the Supreme Court steps – and social media. “Judaism allows and requires abortion in many circumstances,” tweeted Blimi Marcus, an Orthodox nurse practitioner and professor. “An overturned Roe will result in Jewish women everywhere being unable to practice their religion.”



Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, a leader of the National Council of Jewish Women’s “Rabbis for Repro” initiative, echoed those sentiments. “Abortion bans are a violation of religious freedom,” she tweeted. “As well as a violation of dignity, autonomy, basic human rights.”

“The anti-abortion views are rooted in a specific Christian belief that life begins at conception and that abortion, therefore, is murder. Jews don’t believe that,” he says. “The state of Israel, which so many evangelical Christians support unreservedly, has had legalized abortion since 1977.”

https://forward.com/opinion/columni...-wade-decision-is-a-win-for-religious-fervor/

nobody really cares about the opinions of an ancient race cult.

 

[Guno צְבִי]

Jewish law does not share the belief common among abortion opponents that life begins at conception, nor does it legally consider the fetus to be a full person deserving of protections equal those accorded to human beings. In Jewish law, a fetus attains the status of a full person only at birth. Sources in the Talmud indicate that prior to 40 days of gestation, the fetus has an even more limited legal status, with one Talmudic authority (Yevamot 69b) asserting that prior to 40 days the fetus is “mere water.” Elsewhere, the Talmud indicates that the ancient rabbis regarded a fetus as part of its mother throughout the pregnancy, dependent fully on her for its life — a view that echoes the position that women should be free to make decisions concerning their own bodies.