ed note–Keep in mind as you read the following that this is not a Jewess who has ‘abandoned’ her Judah-ism, as many apologists for Israel and for Judah-ism itself will contend.
Jewish support for child-murder is something that goes back thousands of years, and indeed probably existed in the time of Jesus and which more than likely was one of the MANY acts of institutionalized child abuse found within the Judaic community of His time that was the inspiration for His saying that anyone who harmed a child should be thrown to the bottom of the sea and drowned to death.
Also keep in mind that the followers of Judah-ism, the ‘children of Israel’ as they just LOVE to refer to themselves, who–70 million dead children ago–used their money, influence and threats in seeing child-murder institutionalized at the federal level in 1973, have not given up by any stretch. Just as they maneuvered for the legalization of pornography, gay marriage and the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria et al, likewise they fully intend to bring this grisly and diabolical business back to America, and not based upon the constitutionally-flimsy legal argument concerning a woman’s ‘right to privacy’ (which does not exist) but rather, under the guise of ‘freedom of religion’, which indeed DOES exist constitutionally and legally as clearly stated in the 1st Amendment.
Keep in mind as well that the followers of Judah-ism, the ‘children of Israel as they just LOVE to refer to themselves, also believe according to the protocols of their Judah-ism that sexually abusing children is also permissible, and thus all can absolutely rest assured that once they have breathed new life–no pun intended–back into Roe vs Wade that they will begin agitating for the legalization of child sexploitation as well.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
The one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision — the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protections on our Constitutionally guaranteed right to abortion access — arrives this Shabbat, on June 24.
Jews must mark this day as a time of collective mourning for all those whose lives were taken from them because the government stripped them of their right to abortion access.
The Jewish tradition always prioritizes the life, health and safety of the pregnant person over that of the fetus, and saving lives, pikuach nefesh, is always our moral north star. The harm that these bans have caused is beyond comprehension.
We must mark this day as a yahrtzeit — an anniversary of a death.
Because of the Dobbs decision, 58% of the U.S. population that needs abortion care is currently living in states with no, or little, access.
One in four people who can get pregnant will terminate a pregnancy by the age of 45. Almost three-fifths of those people are mothers — parents who already have at least one child and are trying to take care of them the best that they can.
Those who desire pregnancy also need access to reproductive care during miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, or in other cases where urgent maternal health needs or fetal tragedies may be present. Dilation and curettage procedures and the typical care for these medical emergencies are often banned as these procedures are the same as those for elective abortion.
Abortion bans also disproportionately impact Orthodox Jewish American families, who have a comparably high birth rate (an average of 3.3 children, compared to the U.S. average of 1.64). More children, of course, means more cases in which reproductive health interventions might be medically necessary.
The evidence is clear: Forced birth takes lives. Maternal death rates are 62% higher in states that ban or restrict abortion, and babies born in banned states were 30% more likely to die in their first month of life.
Black women are over three times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth, or right after giving birth than white women, and Indigenous women twice as likely — even though 84% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.
The bans also increase suicide risk among women aged 20-34.
The dangers of abortion bans are not confined to hospital operating rooms, where doctors are powerless to perform the necessary medical care to save their patients’ lives. Consider the following grim and interlocking statistics: Those denied abortion access are more likely to be trapped in abusive relationships as a result of that denied care. And we know that the leading cause of death of pregnant and postpartum women in the United States is, in fact, homicide. Reading these two sentences together makes me cry.
Most of the deaths from bans will not be recorded as such. And the day in which federal protections have been taken from us can — and must — be a time to honor all who have been harmed by bans, not just those impacted in this last year.
Since 1976, the racist Hyde Amendment has blocked Medicaid and other federal funding for abortion services; because of systemic barriers and discriminatory policy, this has disproportionately harmed Black, Indigenous and Latina women. Almost 1,400 other bans restricting abortion access were passed between Roe in 1973 and Dobbs last year. Abortion bans have always had an outsized impact on BIPOC women, poor people, disabled people, those in rural areas, young people, immigrants, and trans men and some nonbinary people.
American Jews must dedicate the anniversary of the Dobbs decision as a time of collective mourning. It is, it could only be, a yahrtzeit.
We will be observing June 24 as a time to mourn everyone whose lives were taken because the government stripped them of their right to abortion access. All the ways in which people’s health have been endangered and harmed by restrictions; the ways in which the criminalization of abortion has hurt people; in which bans trap those in abusive relationships; in which people have been pushed into, or kept in, poverty; in which they have been stripped of agency and dignity.
June 24 will be our communal day for mourning together, honoring all those who have suffered and died because of bans and recommitting to the work of fighting for reproductive freedom for all.
At the National Council of Jewish Women, where I serve as scholar-in-residence, we have prepared a prayer for those harmed by abortion bans, to be recited in community, with a yahrtzeit candle and saying Mourner’s Kaddish, along with a guide for marking this time at home. We will be gathering at 1pm ET on Friday to mourn together along with 59 organizational partners, including the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbinical associations, Jewish organizations like T’ruah, Keshet, Bend the Arc and JCPA, as well as stalwarts in the reproductive freedom space, like Abortion Care Network, Planned Parenthood and Physicians for Reproductive Heath. Everyone is welcome to join us.
We cannot let this day pass by without saying: Your life mattered. We remember you. And we will not let what you suffered be in vain.
We have an obligation to fight for a better tomorrow.