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THREAD: Judaism and abortion
Or: why abortion access is not only a right according to the 14th amendment (privacy) but also the 1st (prohibiting free exercise of religion.)
Come and learn. 1/x
Or: why abortion access is not only a right according to the 14th amendment (privacy) but also the 1st (prohibiting free exercise of religion.)
Come and learn. 1/x
To start: Jewish law allows for abortion, and does not hold that a fetus is a person at conception. For the first 40 days of gestation, a fetus is considered “mere fluid” (Talmud Yevamot 69b), and the fetus is regarded as part of the mother for the duration of the pregnancy.
It is not considered to have the status of personhood until birth; the Mishnah (Ohalot 7:6) teaches that if the mother’s life is in danger from the pregnancy, even in labor, the fetus may be sacrificed to save her life, unless the baby’s head has already emerged.
Only then, according to Rashi (Talmud Sanhedrin 72b), is the fetus or baby considered to be a nefesh, a soul.
Note that generally speaking (can’t think of an exception but I try to be careful with absolutes) an abortion may be a *requirement* if the mother’s life is in danger. Saving a life is basically the highest priority in Judaism and the personhood here is the mother’s.
I’m sorry to not be using more trans-inclusive language here. I’m trying to do a lot in not very many characters. Needless to say lots of genders of people get pregnant and have babies (and abortions).
In cases where the mother’s life is not in danger, modern/ contemp legal decisors have permitted abortion when when when a fetus may suffer if carried to term or when a mother's physical or mental health is in danger, or even when her psychological well-being may be at risk.
Some legal decisors are more cautious in their assessment, suggesting that cases must be evaluated individually, and some lean on the side of abortion only in cases of serious or life-threatening medical need...
but the permissibility (and even sometimes necessity) of abortion in some cases is a clear thread running through the literature.
For example, Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, an important Israeli ultra-Orthodox decisor of Jewish law who died in 2006, wrote in his treatise the Tzitz Eliezer, “It is clear that in Jewish law an Israelite is not liable to capital punishment for feticide....(cot’d)
A [Jew] was permitted 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.’”
Interestingly, many Christian communities derive prooftexts against abortion from the Hebrew Bible, like verses about God forming humans in the womb (Psalm 139:13, Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 44:24)—texts which don’t even register in the Jewish legal conversation on this topic.
To put it simply, we don’t derive matters of Jewish law from Psalms.
Another reason I suspect so many Jews are in favor of safe and legal abortion (83% pro choice according to Pew, behind only atheists, agnostics & Unitarians) is connected to the fact that we have historically been strong supporters of the separation of church and state.
I suspect that, even among Jews who may be personally against abortion for themselves or think that it’s morally wrong, there may be a reticence to impose their individual thinking on other people, and certainly the country as a whole.
Cynthia Ozick put it once thusly: “What our faith communities would be wise to choose is religious responsibility undertaken autonomously, independently, and on cherished private ground, turning their backs on anyone, however estimable or prudential...
...who proposes that the church steeple ought to begin to lean on the town hall roof.”
Also it’s possible that an abortifacient appears in the Bible, in the book of Numbers, as part of a ritual in the Temple. https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1023445447103442944
Anyway, most of this is here, but I know you people don’t always click links. https://forward.com/opinion/393168/why-are-jews-so-pro-choice/
Agh, I meant “not prohibiting free exercise of religion” but I reckon y’all got that.
Yep. You'd be liable for damages, not for murder. The Mekhilta d’Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai (21:12), explicates: “The Torah says [one who strikes] a man (Exodus 21:12), meaning a viable human being, to exclude the fetus.” https://twitter.com/DarleneMarshall/status/1126148062244691968
For those who can't get past the part where I noted that some trans men, non-binary & intersex folks (etc) get pregnant, here is the thread for you. I don't want to hear from you until you've read every single tweet in the thread (and maybe not after that) https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/935325803163930625
Ok another thread on all this. More texts, more receipts. https://twitter.com/theradr/status/1128864334678044672?s=21
More receipts; the fetus doesn’t have the status of personhood until the onset of labor. https://twitter.com/rabbibpd/status/1143171644665602050?s=21
Note that “uproot” language points at the part where a fetus is considered part of the mother’s body until basically birth, as discussed above.
