OPINION

Pro Choice Jewish Groups
Are Misinformed on Halachah

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

I

magine a group called
Jewish Women for
Autopsies. Imagine they
hosted rallies in support of
autopsies and encouraged
local congregations to hold
pro-autospy gatherings.
Imagine they even sent a
statement to Israeli leaders
insisting that all citizens in
the country be allowed an
autopsy on demand.
Sounds crazy, doesn't it?
After all, Halachah (Jewish
law) does not permit autop-
sies, except in extraordinary
situations. Why on earth
would a group of Jewish
women take up autopsies as
a cause and make such a
public spectacle of them-
selves doing so?
But, in fact, this very thing
is happening throughout the
country — not with autop-
sies, but with abortion.
Halachah permits abortion
when the mother is in
danger, in which case the
fetus becomes a rodef, a pur-
suer threatening the life of
another. Jewish law says
one is obligated to defend
himself against an ag-
gressive enemy.
But nowhere does the
Talmud advocate abortion
on demand, and no amount
of picketing, rallying and

statement-issuing by Jewish
groups can change that. It
would be like saying
Halachah supports the right
of Jews -to eat ham-and-
cheese sandwiches. We may
not like the law; we may ig-
nore it, too, but we cannot
say Halachah condones Jews
eating ham.
Unfortunately, the Jewish
groups that support abortion
in the United States are now
taking their cause to Israel.
A number of them recently
signed a petition expressing
their "deep distress" at new
anti-abortion legislation be-

The problem with
the abortion issue
is that neither side
is advocating evil.

David Carlin

ing considered by the
Knesset.
The audacity of American
Jews to tell Israel how to
manage political decisions —
especially those that run
contradictory to Jewish law
— never ceases to amaze me.
Suppose a group of Israelis
told American leaders they
absolutely had to start cur-
tailing freedom of speech in
the United States. What
would we say? What would
any sane human being say?
Jews have so many oppor-

tunities to become involved
in just and vital causes:
visiting the sick, helping the
disabled, feeding the
hungry. Imagine what a dif-
ference it would make if all
the Jewish groups that
spend hours and hours doing
something contrary to
Halachah, like supporting
abortion, instead did some-
thing Halachah encourages,
like caring for the needy.
As much as we are inter-
ested in certain causes, we
cannot make them Jewish
simply by attaching the
word "Jewish." Jewish wo-
men do have abortions. They
also have hernia operations.
Are hernias a Jewish issue?
And yes, seeing to the
freedoms of everyone is a
Jewish issue, as long as
those "freedoms" do not con-
tradict Halachah. We're
always hearing about abor-
tion rights, but human be-
ings do not have the right to
do whatever they want. I'm
not going to support the
rights of one man to cheat
another; Jewish law forbids
it. Nor will I back the
freedom of those who want to
abuse children because it is
contrary to Halachah.
I have formed my opinion
on abortion from Halachah. I
can't help but wonder where
these pro-choice Jewish
groups got their ideas. From
their concern for poverty-

Artwork from the Los

Times by Berbers Cummings. Copyright 19139.Berbsre Cummings. Obitrisimod by Los Angeles limn Synds.sta.

stricken, pregnant teen-
agers perhaps? (That's an
argument they always use:
"To have a baby now would
ruin this girl's life.") I have
an answer. Let these pro-
choice men and women go
work with the girls before
they get pregnant.
But then, concern for teen-
agers only goes so far,
doesn't it? Activists are
always ready to work for the

girls' right to an abortion,
but how many of them will
leave their suburban homes
and visit the areas where
these people live?
The other argument I hear
from pro-choice activists is
that a woman has the right
to make decisions about her
own body.
I have two problems with
this. The first is the failure
Continued on Page 10

Anti-Abortion Legislation Risks Individual Freedoms

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

I

n Nicolai Ceaucescu's
perfect world, women
didn't count. The former
Romanian dictator, executed
last year by his own people,
outlawed abortion and birth
control, thus effectively forc-
ing women to have babies.
His obsession with
building the population
resulted in massive numbers
of women dying from illegal
abortions and countless re-
jected children being sent to
orphanages all over
Romania. There have been
documented cases where six
and seven children shared
beds in government-run
"homes" with no medical
support staff.
This way of life was utopia
to Mr. Ceaucescu. And it is
the type of society that we
citizens of the great United
States might expect if our

government opts to legislate
behavior in the bedroom.
I've argued extensively
about the pro-choice move-
ment with my colleague,
Elizabeth Applebaum. She
says she is pro-life; yet so am
I. I am not an advocate of
abortion. Rather, I support a
woman's right to choose her
own destiny. I prefer to call
my friend anti-choice. She
calls me anti-life. That is
ridiculous.
Although I always listen to
her logic and sometimes
agree with her interpreta-
tions of Jewish law, I can't
deviate from my belief that
abortion rights is a Jewish
issue. Jews live in this coun-
try, and Jews do obtain abor-
tions.
In Jewish law, abortion is
never murder. Judaism
focuses on the living, and the
fetus is not considered a
separate human being with
equal claims of a living per-

son. This does not mean
abortion is acceptable on
demand, and I would not at-
tempt to argue that point.
But, according to Rabbi
Richard Marker, who did
abortion counseling as a
chaplain at Brown Univer-
sity, Jewish law states that
no matter what the cir-
cumstances any Jewish deci-
sion about abortion should
be made by the Jewish legal
system — not the govern-
ment of the United States.
If a religious woman
doesn't believe in abortion, I
am not going to drag her into
a clinic and force her to seek
an abortion. Yet I don't want
that person to stand in the
way of someone else who
selects abortion as an option.
This is not Romania, China
or Iran. This is America,
where government officials
do not legislate religious
values.
A society without choice

will not provide adequate
living conditions. Without
choice, our country could
become like Romania, or it
could mirror Margaret At-
wood's fictional account of a
society after a nuclear war
in The Handmaid's Tale.
Ms. Atwood's novel, a fem-
inist version of 1984, shows
a society that tries to rebuild
after a war that left many
women infertile. Those who
were fertile were harnessed
and used as baby factories.
Any time the government
makes intimate decisions
about our lives, it is man-
dating control of our destiny.
A government forcing a
woman to give birth could at
some point force her to have
an abortion. Based on the
assumption that the state
has a vested interest in wo-
men's intimate abilities, this
really could happen. It
doesn't need to stop with
making abortion illegal.

If we are to argue that life
begins at conception, we
may as well institute
pregnancy police forces.
After a woman becomes
pregnant, it will become the
duty of the state to protect
that fetus. In this world,
there will be laws forbidding
pregnant women to smoke,
take aspirin, travel after a
certain time, or even go ski-
ing. The penalties for failure
to comply will bring hefty
fines or possible prison
sentences.
If the premise is that you
can't kill a baby, policies
must be established to pro-
tect the baby.
The new leaders of
Romania have legalized
abortion, and they are des-
perately trying to repair the
damage. But it may be too
late for several generations
of Romanians.
Do we want to make the
same mistake? D

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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