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| Illustration from Business Insider |
It is precisely what Reform Rabbi Rachel Pass said about the Jewish character of her abortion that makes it as ridiculous as it is disturbing. I say this as someone that believes abortion should be a legal medical procedure unhindered by government control.
My reason for that have been expressed here many times. Although laws against abortion might allow exceptions that are generally the same as Judaism allows, there is no guarantee that they will be identical. Those laws might prevent an abortion deemed permitted by Halacha. Even though such circumstances might be rare, they can happen. As things stand now post Roe V Wade a great many states have already made abortion on demand illegal – varying in what those exception might be – if any.
However, as I also made clear, much of the argument made by pro choice advocates in favor of abortion rights are as immoral as the very word ‘choice’ implies. The rights of a woman to do with her body as she chooses that disregards the potential life of the fetus she carries is a far cry from the moral consideration upon which abortion should be considered.
I have heard pro choice advocates argue that if a woman believes that abortion violates her religious principles, then she shouldn’t get one. But that neither she nor anyone else has the right to impose their religious priniciples upon the rest of society.
That might sound like a reasonable argument. But it ignores the morality of a national policy that allows the potential life of a fetus to be snuffed out for no other reason than one of inconvenience. There are on the average over a hundred thousand abortions each year in the US. I wonder how many of them were done to save the life of the mother or other serious health reasons. I would be willing to bet that most of them were not.
As far as Judaism – or any other mainstream religion is concerned killing a fetus because of inconvenience is immoral. A moral country should not be in the business of encouraging them for reason of inconvenience.
True - allowing the procedure to be done without any government interference would in essence perpetuate that immorality. But that is the price of a medical procedure that might be vital to the physical and mental health of those that need it and won’t be able to get it . How we reduce the high number of abortions as a matter of convenience is a task that is worthy of serious study. However, laws against it ought not be part of the solution.
This brings me back to Rabbi Rachel Pass. The following are excerpts from Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert’s Business Insider article where Rabbi Pass’s views are expressed:
Rabbi Rachael Pass says her abortion was a sacred choice — one she is faithfully fighting to help protect for others.
In 2017, as a rabbinical student in her second year, Rabbi Pass accidentally conceived on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. She took a pregnancy test to confirm her suspicions.
Pass said her religious study and rituals were central to her pregnancy, the decision to terminate, and finally her decision to have an abortion:
After much consideration, as she held four misoprostol pills in the corners of her mouth to induce her abortion, she hummed along to a liturgy streamed by Central Synagogue Services, a reform congregation in Manhattan.
Without access to abortion, Pass said, her life would look totally different. She worries about people who have lost choices for reproductive care and those whose physical and mental health will suffer under new laws…
My abortion was deeply Jewish...
I think it's really important for people to hear a rabbinic voice who chose to have an abortion," Pass said. "Not because of a horrible medical reason, but because pregnancy wasn't right for me for a lot of other reasons.
She prayed. She consulted her own rabbi. She studied the religious texts of the Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud for any reference to abortion…
The very first thing that I thought to do after reading the positive pregnancy test was to say… asher yatzar.
After her abortion, Pass visited… a mikvah, and ate challah and honey — a symbol of sweeter times ahead.
Rabbi Pass did not mention whether she is married. But if so, she said nothing about discussing with her husband a decision that clearly affects both of them. There is nothing Jewish about ignoring the father in a decision of this nature. If she did but just didn't mention it means that it does not merit mentioning it in her scale of Jewish values applicable to her ‘sacred’ view of abortion.
The foray into Halachic sources is somewhat curious coming from an adherent of a movement that denies the divinity of the Torah and considers all Mitzvah observance voluntary at best. Her use of a Mikvah and hen eating Chalah and honey is totally irrelevant to her abortion. That it made her feel good is not what Jewish ritual is about.
What was most disturbing, however, is her suggestion (as a rabbi no less) that abortion for purposes of convenience is a Mitzvah. That is he impression she gives by citing her study of the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud, the consultation with her own rabbi, and all the (irrelevant) rituals she performed, It is decidedly NOT a Mitzvah. Nothing could be further from the truth. What she did violates Halacha. And although I’m sure that in her ignorance of the actual Halacha she believes it - calling it a blessing is the last thing it is.