Jews and Abortion Policies
In the United States, Orthodox Jews are usually affiliated with the National Pro-Life Religious Council, whereas Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism are usually aligned with the interfaith Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Nonetheless, Orthodox organizations such as the Orthodox Union and Agudas Yisrael have occasionally partnered with pro-choice organizations when necessary to ensure that abortions will be available to women whose lives are endangered by the fetus.
As feminists or health professionals, Jews have been among those most active on reproductive rights advocacy in the U.S. Generally, Jews have been less involved with the pro-life movement.
In July 2012, Tablet Magazine, an online Jewish publication, quoted the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2012 Jewish Values Report: "American Jews are overwhelmingly in favor of abortion in all (49%) or most (44%) cases. There is little denominational or demographic variation on this level of overall support." The author went on to summarize:
"That’s 93%, folks. The report goes to explain that while opinions are more varied by political affiliation among Jews, over 75% of Jewish Republicans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. From the data, it seems that Wasserman Schultz isn’t saying anything that isn’t reflective of the vast majority of Jewish opinion. In fact, it seems that access to abortion is the issue upon which the most Jews agree."
In Israel, abortion is allowed at the request of a termination committee in the cases of if the woman is unmarried, age (if the woman is under the age of 17 - the legal marriage age in Israel - or over the age 40), the pregnancy was conceived under illegal circumstances (rape, statutory rape, etc.) or an incestuous relationship, birth defects, risk of health to the mother, and life of the mother. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics report from 2004, in 2003 most abortion requests were granted, with 19,500 legal abortions performed and 200 requests for abortion denied. Reasons for termination went as follows: the woman was unmarried (42%), because of illegal circumstances (11%), health risks to the woman (about 20%), age of the woman (11%) and fetal birth defects (about 17%).
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