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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 — 

continued on page 8

