LEARNING ABOUT ABORTION IN SYNAGOGUE
I remember when I was a young girl that the rabbi gave Yom Kippur sermon that I didn’t completely understand. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time.This was not the first time that I didn’t understand his sermons. Typically, I passed the sermon off as unimportant and began counting kippot on the men’s heads in front of me by color or, better yet, came up with some excuse to use the restroom. But, this time, I notice a woman in our row crying silently through the whole sermon. That drew me in. Usually, no offense to my childhood rabbi, nobody showed that much emotion towards a Yom Kippur sermon.
After the service, I asked my mother about it. I am remembering our conversation best that I can after 45 years or so:
“You didn’t understand the sermon?” asked my mom.
“No,” I said.
“He spoke about abortion. That’s when a woman is pregnant but being pregnant isn’t healthy for her or she doesn’t want to have a baby or can't afford one,” said my mom. “The doctor ends the pregnancy. I think that woman may have had an abortion.”
“She was sorry that she had an abortion?” I asked, cringing at all this new information.
“I don’t know. But I am sure it was a difficult choice for her,” said my mom.
“Did the rabbi say that she made the wrong choice?” I asked.
“No, not at all. Just that it was a difficult choice,” said my mom.
The year must have been 1977 or maybe 1978, so just a few years after Roe v. Wade. It was my first introduction to abortion and the controversy surrounding it. And, in my mind, it indelibly connected the topic to Judaism and to that woman’s tears.
I don’t know what exactly my childhood rabbi said about abortion all these years later. But I have learned over the year that Judaism, by and large, is very much pro-choice. Back to our earliest texts, Judaism prioritizes the woman’s physical and mental health over the rights of the fetus. In Judaism, full life begins at first breath and a pregnancy can be ended if a woman’s mental, or physical health, is in danger, even far into the pregnancy. This article provides a good overview of Judaism’s teaching on reproductive freedom.
This week, there was a rally at the Supreme Court organized by the Jewish community. I suspect that there will be others in the upcoming months. I could not attend this week, as I am still recovering from Covid. But I plan to be there in the future and hope that a delegation from Beth Chai might join me.
To me, reproductive freedom is rooted in Judaism. In our texts, and in my childhood rabbi’s words and in a Yom Kippur conversation with my mother. And, in an unknown woman’s tears.