Jewish Perspectives on Abortion

Contemporary Judaism can be broken into three distinctive groups: Orthodox, Reformed, and Conservative. The formation of these three groups represent historical and social factions within the contemporary practice of the Jewish faith and its beliefs. In tandem, the variant positions adopted by these Orthodox, Reformed and Conservative branches reflect upon the status and treatment of women within Judaism. Further, scrutiny of these three groups's formal stands on abortion will reveal how Judaism theorizes about sexuality, procreation, family and marriage.

Sociological research indicates that "Jews support the availability of abortion in far greater numbers than members of any other religion." Simply stated, Orthodox Jews generally oppose nontherapeutic abortion while both the Conservative and Reform movements generally support elective abortion. However, this formulaic breakdown of these three groups' typical responses does not offer either a comprehensive or analytical account of why these positions are adopted. To understand the Jewish response to abortion, critical thinkers must adopt some decidedly unChristian perspectives. Judaism's attitudes toward life and death, the pregnant mother and the fetus follow within their own ethical, canonical and historical traditions. They are not to be misread as either being in duplicate or in parallel to Christian law and attitudes.

The first paradox for non-Jewish thinkers to grasp is that

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le of tza'ara d'gufah kadim is to be followed. This principle insists that the woman's welfare and avoidance of pain is to be prioritized. According to Jewish law, abortion cannot be defined as murder. Jewish adherents to this perspective assert that abortion does not qualify as murder since it does not fulfill the liabilities imposed by the three cardinal sins that require martyrdom. "Rather than commit murder of the innocent, public idolatry or gross sexual immorality [adultery-incest], one has to surrender his own life in martyrdom." Everything else which falls under the weight of the Torah falls under the category of ya'avor v'al ye-hareg, that is, "let one transgress rather than die," but for the murder of the innocent. Jewish law, deciphered from this vantage point, realizes that since a mother must be allowed to abort in order to save her own life, the actual act of abortion cannot be deemed to be murder. Yet this above stated belief is not one which is staunchly held across all spectrums of Jewish thought. Writing in The National Review, Don Feder, a syndicated columnist for the Boston Herald adopts a Right to Life position. Feder is concerned that the liberal position of Rabbi Stern, incidentally the daugh

Category: Philosophy - J