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The CONSERVATIVE CONGREGATION of PEABODY
On Abortion
In talking with some of you about President Obama's recent commencement
speech at Notre Dame, and the vigorous anti-abortion protests that his appearance
brought forth, I was struck by the assumption so many of us make that Jewish
law and ethics are unequivocally "pro-choice."
Mind you, this is not one of those
"What Judaism says about…" columns. If you are interested in
a detailed analysis of the sources, you are welcome to do some reading on the subject
yourself.But it seems to me that our ancient tradition makes two statements with
equal strength: (1) abortion of a fetus is not killing, and the taboo on taking
a human life applies only from the moment of birth onwards; (2) preventing the birth
of a human being is an evil tantamount to "diminishing the image of God,” and for
that reason we must resist the all-too-common tendency to define out of the human
community those whose lives are threatening or burdensome These two ideas play out
in halachic decision-making.
In other words, Judaism is neither "pro-choice" nor "pro-life," in the way those
epithets are usually understood. Judaism requires a willingness to trust individuals
with their free and private moral decisions—after all, without free choice, the morality
of their decisions would be trivialized. But Judaism also recognizes that the public
and the private spheres, public and private choices, cannot easily be separated.
Abortion should not be seen as an alternative to a decent communal policy. This
means Jews should consider the demographics of the Jewish community, the lack of
Jewish babies to adopt, and the need for institutional support for single Jewish
women who choose to have their babies.
The "pro-choice" politicians like President Obama and the "pro-life" religious leaders like the Catholic bishops are engaged in an ongoing--and no doubt never-ending--debate over the morality of individual abortion decisions. Both sides need to think outside the boxes they inhabit. The "pro-choicers" need to allow for significant political compromises, understanding that, for most people, their own moral judgments on abortion are already a compromise between competing values. The "pro-lifers" need to take choice more seriously, even if some women will undoubtedly make what they would consider an unjustified moral choice.
A messy situation, indeed. But complexity like this is only fitting for a truly serious issue.
Rabbi David Klatzker