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JULY 7 • 2022 | 7
“National Council of Jewish Women
advocates will not be deterred. We will
continue to fight until everyone can
make their own faith-informed decision
about their bodies, lives and futures,
regardless of who they are or where they
live. Now is the time. Forced pregnancy
is an explicit violation of our rights as
Jews. Abortion access is and always will
be a Jewish value, and we are determined
to keep fighting, from the streets to
the courts, to ensure that everyone has
access to the care they need and the
ability to make their own decisions for
themselves and their futures.”
REFORM MOVEMENT LEADERS
DENOUNCE THE SUPREME
COURT’S DECISION
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court
decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Organization overturning a half century of
judicial precedent established by Roe v.
Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Rabbi
Marla Feldman, executive director of
Women of Reform Judaism; Yolanda
Savage-Narva, assistant vice president
of Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
of the Union for Reform Judaism;
and Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director
of the Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism, released the following
statement on behalf of the Union for
Reform Judaism, the Central Conference
of American Rabbis and Women of
Reform Judaism:
Rabbi Marla Feldman: “We are
outraged that the Supreme Court has
stripped women and others who can
become pregnant of the fundamental
right to make essential health care
decisions free of governmental
interference. Abortion access is a critical
component of reproductive health care.
Pregnant individuals are capable of
making ethical decisions based on their
own beliefs and medical best interest
without government officials imposing
their personal religious views on others.
As we navigate the catastrophic results
of the Court’s decision, we will work
to ensure that Congress and state
legislatures do everything in their
power to protect and improve access to
abortion and our fundamental rights.
We will not be silent as the Court tries
to turn back the clock 50 years.”
Yolanda Savage-Narva: “This decision,
which is rooted in anti-Black racism,
white supremacy and other systems
of oppression, will have disastrous
consequences. It disproportionately
impacts those already facing
discriminatory obstacles to health care
and other human rights, including
Black, Indigenous and other people of
color, people with disabilities, people in
rural areas, undocumented people and
low-income people — people in our
Reform Jewish community and outside
the Movement. For many, this reality is
not new, and many have been navigating
abysmal abortion access in states that
have eroded this right for decades, even
with Roe. We must come together to take
sustained action to support those whose
human dignity and fundamental rights
are and will be violated and stripped
away. As Jews, we are commanded to do
so.”
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner: “We
vehemently condemn the Supreme
Court decision in Dobbs, which
overturns Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood
v. Casey. This decision is wrong, full stop.
It gives the green light to abortion bans
that will eliminate or severely restrict
access in nearly half of U.S. states and
threatens other fundamental rights,
including access to contraception and
the LGBTQ+ rights affirmed by Lawrence
v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges. Efforts to
restrict abortion access also undermine
the religious freedom of people who, as
in the Jewish tradition, uphold abortion
care as a medically necessary and
righteous procedure.
“We are a Movement that includes
people who have received abortion
care, abortion providers, people who
love someone who has had an abortion,
and people who will one day need an
abortion — all of whom are deeply
impacted by this decision. I take to
heart the words of our Movement’s
clergy and lay leaders in communities
nationwide who have shared how
devastating this decision will be,
including congregant and abortion
provider Dr. Sara Imershein, MD, MPH,
who said: ‘As a healer and an abortion
provider I am deeply disappointed in
the Supreme Court’s decision — but
not at all surprised. Sadly, the poor
and marginalized will suffer most from
abortion restrictions — with greater
poverty, forced childbirth and higher
maternal mortality.’
“And Rabbi Rachael Pass, who has
spoken and written about her own
abortion, who said: ‘It is imperative
that Jews, and all people, have access
to abortion in all places where we live.
I know this professionally as a rabbi,
and personally as a cis-woman who has
received an abortion.
“Judaism permits and sometimes
requires abortion in the case that the
life and wellbeing of the pregnant
person is endangered. Depriving trans
and nonbinary individuals and women
with uteruses in our country of access
to abortion undermines the freedom of
minority religions — like Judaism —
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