With so many states having recently
passed or considering legislation which purports to eliminate or severely
restrict abortion, I want to take a look at what Judaism says about this issue.
Before
I do that, I want to talk about “framing”, in other words, how an issue is
presented and perceived in the public square. To a large extent, the debate
over abortion is framed as religious people who are “pro-life” vs. secular people
who are “pro-choice.” In point of fact, as a Conservative rabbi I am pro-choice
precisely because of our religious teachings, and this is why the Rabbinical
Assembly of Conservative Judaism issued this statement this week after the Alabama
legislature passed a law which, if allowed to go into effect, would ban
virtually all abortions.
The
most recent spate of legislation is rooted in the Catholic and Evangelical
Christian belief that we become full human beings with full human rights at the
moment of conception. Catholics and Evangelicals have every right to believe
this but it is a belief, it is not a
scientifically provable fact. The
normative Jewish teaching codified in the Talmud and Codes is that a fetus
becomes a full human being at the moment of birth -- when its head or in the
case of a breach birth the majority of its body has emerged from the womb.
The
halachic position that a fetus is not a full human being is rooted in Exodus
21:22-23. These verses describe a situation where two men are fighting with
each other and as a result of their fight, a pregnant woman is injured. If the
woman herself dies as a result, the death penalty is incurred. If the fetus
dies but not the mother, the perpetrator is fined. The inescapable conclusion
from these verses is that a fetus is not a full human being and causing its
death is not murder, because in the Pentateuch there is no such thing as a fine
for murder. There is only the death penalty.
The
fact that we do not consider a fetus a full human being does not mean that a
fetus has no value. The Talmud says in a number of places that “a fetus is a
limb of its mother” rather than an independent being itself, but just as we
would need a compelling reason to amputate a limb, we need a compelling reason
to “amputate,” so to speak, a fetus. But regardless of whether the halacha
would or wouldn’t countenance any particular abortion, the assertion that
abortion is “murder” is contrary to Jewish teachings, full stop.
Halacha
going back as far as the Mishnah (codified in 200 CE) actually requires abortion if carrying the
pregnancy to term endangers the life of the mother. This is based on the law of
the rodef, the “pursuer.” In a case
where the fetus endangers its mother’s life, it is considered a “pursuer” and
we are obligated to put the welfare of the mother first -- up until the point
where the head or the majority of the body has emerged, at which point we don’t
kill one human being to protect another.
The
point of this admittedly cursory survey of halacha regarding abortion is simply
to help you understand what Jewish religious teaching on the subject is and why
Jews do not share the belief of many Catholics and Evangelicals that abortion
is murder and that all abortions should be banned. While in point of fact
Judaism might disapprove of some of the reasons some women choose to have
abortions, Judaism disapproves of lots of things which people do which
nevertheless are and should remain perfectly legal. I’m not aware, for example,
of any move anywhere in the United States to ban the sale of pork or of
clothing made from a mixture of linen and wool (Lev. 19:19, Deut. 22:11).
Having
counseled women who were unsure about having an abortion, and even having
accompanied women to the abortion clinic, I know that this is a serious
decision that is not made lightly. I deeply respect those who have a
religious-based opposition to abortion but there is no reason for any state or
the Federal government to decide that the Catholic/Evangelical belief is
correct and the Jewish and liberal Protestant belief is wrong. I hope and pray
that these clearly unconstitutional laws will not survive the judicial scrutiny
they will surely receive.
