A Reproductive Shabbat

Since then, I’ve been a clinic escort, practical support volunteer, abortion funder. I’ve built websites for pro-choice organizations, written op-eds. I hope to become an abortion doula. In every inch of my work, I am guided by my Jewish values. Though it might not always be overt, my religion is a major part of why and how I show up. And when it is overt, it’s intentional. 

Showing up in the reproductive freedom movement as a proud Jew is crucial because it undermines the myth that all religious people and all religions are anti-abortion. This is not to say there aren’t those who use their faith traditions as a sword, twisting their ideologies to fit their political agenda. But in Judaism, abortion is not only permitted in certain circumstances, it’s required. This week’s Torah portion, Shabbat Mishpatim, is the foundation on which this belief is built. 

Now, there are several ways that I, a proud Jewish woman who has worked for years to advance abortion access and reproductive justice, can answer the canard about religious people who “don’t believe in abortion.” 

The easiest response is that abortion exists, and abortions happen regardless of your “belief in them.” Despite the constant onslaught of anti-abortion bills introduced and passed, anti-abortion judges confirmed, and the anti-abortion stigma that seeps into our conversations, the media we consume, and our religious spaces. Abortion–and those who continue to fight for it–exist. They persist, as part of women’s reproductive lives.