Firstly, as a preface to the topic of the contemporary abortion debate, please see the following post. It's a wonderfully written response to a mother considering abortion, by Rabbi Ze’ev Smason, https://stljewishlight.org/opinion/choose-life-jewish-law-forbids-abortion-except-to-save-the-mother/. Full text provided below.

Unfortunately, a less-than-hinged Op-Ed by Sheila Katz, CEO of NCJW, was published in USA Today on April 24, 2024. Its sheer absurdity demands a response.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/04/24/supreme-court-idaho-abortion-emergency-healthcare-emtala/73425094007/. 

Several things needs to be clarified, including but not limited to the following:

1. Ms. Katz is a career crusader for abortion-on-demand. She exploits whatever limited aspects of Torah observance she professes in order to create a mirage of legitimacy - in order to undermine the very foundations of the Torah, especially the sanctity of innocent life. In other words, she undermines the Torah - the essence of Judaism - in the very name of Judaism.

For example, Katz ominously intones:

"... A question emerges, indicating the severe implications around the outcome of this Supreme Court case for Jews, atheists and all minority religions: Must we die in order to preserve one Christian understanding of life? ..."

True to form, Katz has it all exactly wrong: It is her anti-Jewish religion [one more akin to ancient Molech-worship] - that is killing us - both Jewish and non-Jewish pre-born babies - all while she deceptively masquerades their pre-Abrahamic death-cult as "Judaism."

Ironically, her abortion-at-whim advocacy is aiding and abetting the mass-killing of the children of countless Jewish mothers at a rate that renders Hamas and Hezbollah almost irrelevant. Why spend so much money on financing terrorism when the NCJW does a more effective job for less?

One could put it as follows: Katz and her enablers collaborate in the ongoing spiritual Holocaust, led by her abortion-rites co-religionists, by augmenting it with a physical dimension - advancing the physical decimation of the next generation of Jews.

None of this, of course, precludes Katz and her NCJW from using their spare time (when not committing abortion or advocating for it) to tout their advocacy against anti-semitism. If the goal of anti-semitism is to eradicate Jews, NJCW is far more effective in attaining that objective than those they ostensibly oppose. Perhaps NJCW just can't tolerate the competition.

3. "The gravest threat to Judaism is not Jew- hatred, and not even assimilation, but rather distortion of the Torah." - Rabbi Aharon Kotler, OBM, leader of the Yeshiva movement of America (in Mishnas Reb Aharon 1:2:3:6)

Authentic Torah authorities know all about Katz's cherry-picked Torah sources - and nevertheless come to conclusions sharply divergent from her self-serving, pre-configured talking points. The internationally recognized authority in Jewish Law (Halacha) Rabbi Moshe Feinstein O.B.M. (d. 1985, NYC), was eminently clear about the Torah position on abortion: it's bloodshed. He elucidated this in multiple responsa in his Iggros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat, vol. 2, e.g. responsa 2:69 and 2:73:8 (p. 310). Nothing that Ms. Katz or any other pro-abortion teteprompter says will ever detract from that, not one iota. Additionally, even the most lenient, fringe viewpoints within the corpus of Orthodox Jewish Law are in full agreement over the absolute prohibition against abortion-on-demand,* something for which Katz crusades.* e.g. see https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/184580/20210721170924501_41204 pdf Parker.pdf

4. Ms. Katz misrepresents not only the position of Judaism, but also herself. She pontificates as if she is in possession of some authority to speak about Jewish Law, against which she regularly wages war (via her abortion-on-demand crusade). Her arrogance in speaking with that faux-gravitas is perhaps surpassed only by the sheer absurdity thereof. You really cannot make this up.

5. Katz writes as if possessed by holy zeal to save innocent life. Firstly, we live in 2024 America. Modern medical advances generally ensure that abortion is not necessary to save the mother. C-section is generally safer for the mother (and obviously for the baby).** e.g.:The Pro-Life Reply to: "Is Abortion Ever Medically Necessary?" 

Secondly, I ought to preface that I've not been able to invest the time to research Idaho case-law that may impact on the issues at hand in that particular ongoing legal battle. Nevertheless, even on the outside chance that Katz may have finally stumbled on a genuine concern of a potential legal threat to the life of the mother -- it's obviously not out of a true concern for innocent life that she's resorted to so awkwardly blowing her ballast in the public square. Katz and her collaborators have no such objections to the wholesale, state-mandated, state-funded mass-murder of innocent pre-born babies. Thus, whether or not there may be a legitimate objection in that particular legal battle, Katz's crocodile tears over a potential danger to the life of a mother are nothing more than yet another attempt to ensure maximum pre-born casualties - and, thereby, maximum profits for her patron, the Depravity-Industrial complex. For Katz & Co., it's evidently not because mothers matter -- it's because they pay (or government agencies do so for them).

Have an uplifting Yom Tov.

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,  Executive Director, Help Rescue Our Children

845.642.1679 Direct: 771.215.8892 Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337

torahjewsfordecency@gmail.com

Personal:  Nathanadvisors@gmail.com

Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, co-hosting the renowned "Levin-At-Eleven" program of Rabbi Yehuda Levin, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (ET).

Choose life: Jewish law forbids abortion except to save the mother

By Rabbi Ze’ev Smason Published April 3, 2024 Rabbi Ze’ev Smason -- Coalition for Jewish Values

Dear Rabbi,

My husband and I just found out we’re expecting. This pregnancy hasn’t come at the best time; we’re facing difficult financial pressures, and it just doesn’t seem like the right time for us to have a child. Friends have advised me to consider an abortion. Some have said their rabbis teach that a fetus doesn’t become a person until after birth and that, according to Judaism, abortion is “a choice.” However, when I think about terminating the life of our unborn child, my heart tells me that it might not be the right thing to do. What does the Jewish Bible say about abortion?

Respectfully,Samantha

Dear Samantha,

I so admire that you look to our 3,300-year-old Torah for moral guidance regarding the consequential decision you face. Before relating the Torah’s stance on abortion, I’d like to share some ideas that Judaism expresses regarding the grandeur and significance of the life growing inside you.

The Divine gift of a soul was given to your child, Samantha, when it was conceived within you. The Talmud identifies this moment of ensoulment in a fascinating dialogue between Rabbi Judah the Prince and the Roman Emperor Antoninus (Sanhedrin 91b). Although the popular joke goes that a Jewish fetus is only considered viable when it gets into medical school, the truth is that Judaism has always believed that life begins at conception, i.e. that the soul — that all-knowing, all-feeling inner self that is the true person — is present at the very beginning of an unborn child’s formation.

Were you aware, Samantha, that the soul you and your husband brought into the world now has a share of the World to Come? Many are unaware that Judaism believes in the afterlife and the eternity of the soul. An infant gains a share of the World to Come from the moment of conception.

Rashi, the preeminent French Medieval Torah elucidator, states:  “ ‘From the time of conception’ — from the time the seed has been conceived in the mother’s womb, even if the mother miscarried and the child is lost, it has a portion in the World to Come” (Sanhedrin 110b).

The life of your baby began long before he or she will be born. And lest someone attempt to convince you, Samantha, that the question of when life begins is solely an issue of theology or philosophy, please consider just a handful of developmental markers of the child growing inside you. 

Your unborn baby’s heart will begin to beat 18 to 21 days after fertilization. At a certain stage, your unborn child will begin to suck his or her thumb for comfort. If you sing or listen to music on loudspeakers during your pregnancy, your baby will be born with a better ability for neuronal encoding of speech sounds.

The Torah teaches, Samantha, that your unborn child lives an astoundingly robust spiritual life. The Talmud (Niddah 30b) reveals that an angel teaches your unborn child the entire Torah. This means that everything we need to know is inside us: Your yet-born child, in utero, is taught the difference between right and wrong, the purpose of life, how to love and how to reach its potential.

And I’m certain you’ll find it of interest, Samantha, that Jewish law demands that the Sabbath be violated in order to save an unborn life, regardless of its proximity to conception. Given that lifesaving activity is the only situation in which Sabbath restrictions are set aside, were an unborn child considered as simply “fetal tissue” and not considered “alive,” this would be prohibited, not required.

What then, Samantha, about abortion? Jewish law opposes abortion except in cases of danger to the mother. Times may change, but the Torah’s eternal values and truth never change.

Most Torah authorities consider feticide an act of murder. Even the most permissive opinions of Torah scholars reserve abortion for extreme situations that no woman should ever experience. However, the tragic fact remains that in the United States, nearly 95% of abortions are performed on healthy children being carried by healthy mothers.

Don’t be misled, Samantha, by those who misrepresent biblical passages in order to promote the idea that abortion should be regarded as simply a “choice.” Jewish law is based on the theological presumption that a human being does not possess total ownership of one’s body: Our bodies belong to God. We are His stewards of our bodies. And we are stewards of His children, both those already born and of those conceived but not yet born.

Samantha, I suggest you listen to your heart. It is telling you that the child you are carrying is a gift, arguably the greatest gift God can grant us. As you begin your pregnancy, rejoice in being a sacred repository — like a Holy Ark containing a Torah Scroll — of a yet-born child with a precious soul who is of inestimable value in God’s eyes.

As you and your husband deal with the challenges of raising your child, may your decision to choose life for your unborn child bless you both with abundant joy and nachas for the rest of your lives.

With blessings,

— Rabbi

https://stljewishlight.org/opinion/choose-life-jewish-law-forbids-abortion-except-to-save-the-mother/