OUR COMMUNITY

18 | MAY 19 • 2022

S

ince the U.S. Supreme Court
draft decision was leaked
earlier this month, forecast-
ing its intentions to overturn Roe
v Wade, Michigan women are con-
cerned a 1931 law on the Michigan
books would immediately go into
effect, essentially illegalizing abor-
tion in the state, reversing a 50-year
precedent of women’s rights for 2.2
million women of childbearing age
in the state. This law states that any
doctor performing an abortion could
be prosecuted, even in cases of rape or
incest.
Although Michigan Attorney General
Dana Nessel, in a May 8
appearance on NBC’s Meet
the Press, said if she remains
in office, she will not pros-
ecute any cases that would
come up as a result of this
law, she said she could not
prevent the state’s 83 elected
county prosecutors from doing so.
Nessel also said that as a worst-case
scenario, even performing a dilation
and curettage (D&C) for a woman
experiencing a miscarriage or if a fetus
dies in utero could be considered crimi-
nally liable for physicians.
“What’s going to happen is doctors
will be so afraid of being investigated
for performing these procedures, even
when there is no longer any [fetal] via-
bility because it’s the same procedure
that you might perform for an abortion
… It will have a chilling effect, and
women will not have basic medical
health care,” Nessel said. “Doctors
simply are not going to perform those
procedures anymore because they don’t
want to go to prison for it.”
The possibility of living in such dra-
conian conditions is energizing many in
the state’s Jewish community to


attempt to secure women’s reproductive
rights in Michigan by working to add
an amendment to the state Constitution
through the Reproductive Freedom for
All ballot initiative.
In addition to safeguarding the
legality of attaining and performing
abortions in Michigan, the proposed
initiative, if it makes it to the November
ballot and passes in the election, would
include protections for use of birth
control, safe birthing care, and medical
procedures associated with miscarriages
and stillbirths. Because the initiative
would amend Article I of the Michigan
Constitution, its backers would need to
collect 425,059 valid signatures by this
summer from Michigan voters to place
the measure on the ballot.

MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH
COMMUNITY MOBILIZE
Michigan’s Jews are raising money and
volunteering for organizations that
work to protect reproductive freedom.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive
director of Detroit’s Jewish
Community Relations
Council/AJC, said that
defending a woman’s right
to choose is a strong Jewish
value. He said his organiza-
tion is playing a supportive
role to Jewish organizations

such as Hadassah and the National
Council of Jewish Women. He espe-
cially emphasized the organization’s
partnership with the Coalition for
Black and Jewish Unity, as the elim-
ination of abortion rights will fall
most heavily on communities of
color.
“Many women in this community
do not have the resources to trav-
el out of state to get an abortion,”
Lopatin explained. “We will become
active in a supportive role for the Black
community through our social justice
committee.”
As an Orthodox rabbi, Lopatin cau-
tioned his community should be wary
of anti-abortion laws. “Defending the
right of a woman to choose is a Jewish
value and a moral value,” Lopatin said.
“Also, this country has a separation of
church and state, so this is a matter of
religious freedom.”
The National Council of Jewish
Women in Michigan has been actively
involved in getting the initiative on the
ballot since it was drafted in early 2022.
“At NJCW, our mission is to improve
the lives of women, children and fam-
ilies,” said Linda Levy,
NCJW of Greater Detroit
co-state policy advocate.
“This is an issue that touch-
es each of these points.
Many of these decisions on
abortion affect families, and
they are often made in con-
junction with a family setting.”
Levy, 69, of Farmington Hills, said
NCJW delegates have been instrumen-
tal in the formation and mobilization
of the initiative, which was crafted
by Reproductive Freedom, Planned
Parenthood Advocates of Michigan and
the American Civil Liberties Union of
Michigan. It sent delegates to Lansing

Jewish groups mobilize to get reproductive rights issue
on Michigan ballot.
Advocating for Change

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Dana
Nessel

Rabbi
Asher
Lopatin

Linda Levy

The logo of the ballot initiative effort