by Nathan Jeffay
Date: 7 January 2010
Source: The Jewish Chronicle (UK)
Women's rights activists are furious at a decision by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to launch a public offensive against abortion. Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar have written to all state-employed rabbis urging them to use their pulpits to raise the issue, linking it to the Torah portion in which midwives in Egypt save Israelite babies in defiance of Pharaoh. They claim in their letter that the "vast majority" of the abortions are "unnecessary" and "forbidden by Jewish law", and argue that the situation "impedes the coming of the Messiah". Despite public ouctry, their request to rabbis still stands, and a plan to strengthen a two-year-old Chief Rabbinate committee established to disseminate Orthodox views on abortion is still going ahead.
According to Jewish law, abortion is not permitted for economic or social reasons, but is permitted when continued pregnancy or birth could pose serious physical or psychological danger to the mother. Some rabbis also deem it permitted if a fetus has a serious illness like Tay Sachs or in cases of rape or incest. Israeli law takes a more lenient view. Around 20,000 women apply for state-funded abortions and 98% receive the necessary green light from a panel of doctors and social workers. Common reasons given by the women include that they are unmarried, too young or old to have a baby, or have evidence that their baby will have a physical or mental defect. The Chief Rabbis and their sympathisers claim that the most common reason is actually economic and women just tell panels what they want to hear. In addition to the legal abortions, both sides of the debate estimate that 30,000 women a year circumvent the panel and pay a doctor privately to terminate their pregnancy.
Irit Rosenblum, executive director of New Family, a non-profit organisation that opposes rabbinic involvement family affairs, called the Chief Rabbis' offensive a "disgrace" designed to restore the taboo on abortion. Ms Rosenblum was particularly angry about Rabbi Metzger's comments to the local media following the release of the letter, in which he indicated that he views confronting abortion to be part of Zionists' demographic battle to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel. This is a "cynical use of women's bodies under the umbrella of Judaism", she said. Among Orthodox Israelis, opinions are divided. While the Orthodox feminist movement Kolech did not take an official position on the campaign, chairwoman Rachel Keren said that personally she felt it is "irresponsible".
