Published: 6 May 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
RABBI DANNY SCHIFF argues a Jewish approach focuses on duties not rights, but there are Jewish reasons to stand up for abortion freedom enshrined in Roe v Wade
There are few US Supreme Court cases as widely known internationally as Roe v. Wade. There are none that evoke as much intense emotion. Understandably so. Roe has guaranteed abortion freedom in the US for almost half a century. Now its fate hangs in the balance. There is much at stake.
Often overlooked in the heated debate around Roe is the fact that even with Roe in place abortion rates have plummeted in the US over the last three decades. In 1990, there were 1,429,247 abortions in the US, but by 2018 that number had fallen by more than half, to 619,591. From 344 abortions per 1,000 live births in 1990, the abortion rate went down to 189 in 2018.
Internationally, those countries with more restrictive abortion laws usually have more abortions, while those with more relaxed statutes have fewer. It is a counterintuitive outcome. It may be the case that when individuals feel that they are in control of their own destiny there is less pressure to abort. Whatever the reason, those who seek to minimize abortions should perhaps be celebrating the societal framework that has been in place since the 1970s for it is likely that it has advanced their cause.
Nevertheless, the legal struggle goes on. Unfortunately, it is a struggle that tends to suppress the possibility for reasoned moral conversations. Consumed with the issue of rights (on both sides), there is little patience for more nuanced ethical concerns.
The statement that “a woman has the right to do with her own body as she sees fit” cannot be Jewishly supported
Judaism, it is important to note, is not a rights-based system. Jewish law is built around mitzvot – personal responsibilities – and places hardly any emphasis on individual rights. Thus, the statement that “a woman has the right to do with her own body as she sees fit” cannot be Jewishly supported. The Jewish approach is that our bodies belong to God, and that we each have a duty to be good custodians of our bodies because they are on loan to us.
