Abortion, a debate?!

[eumelia]

When I read this headline, I felt the top of my head blow off:

Chief rabbis: Abortions are delaying redemption

By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent

The Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbis of Israel stepped up their campaign against abortion in recent days, sending a letter to local rabbis employing religious arguments to encourage them to dissuade women in their communities from terminating pregnancies.

In their letters to the chief rabbis of several cities, neighborhoods and communities across the country, rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar cited a study conducted two years ago by the non-profit group Efrat showing that 50,000 abortions were carried out annually in Israel - 30,000 of them in violation of government regulations.

According to the rabbis, the data point to "a real epidemic, as tens of thousands of Jewish souls are being lost each year ... In addition to the enormity of the transgression, it is also delaying redemption."

The rabbis attributed no particular significance to the timing of the letter, other than that next week's Torah portion is Shemot (Exodus), a passage describing Hebrew midwives saving male babies from execution on the orders of Pharaoh.

Ronit Ehrenfreund-Cohen, the department head of WIZO's Status of Women Division, condemned the rabbis' letter Tuesday for "violating the essence and values of the society and country in which we live, which also pays their salaries."

This may come off as simple Crazy Talk by religious leaders. But these religious leaders as states, are government workers. They get paid by our taxes and they make numrous decisions regarding the validity of Jewish identity (and invalidating non-Jewish or "not Jewish enough" identities).

I'd also like to state, in case this isn't common knowledge, that abortions are not, in fact, easily accessible in Israel.
It is a medical procedure which, when obtained under "government regulations" forces women who do not want to be pregnant to go through a committee made up of a gynecologist, a social worker and another doctor in a different capacity (GP, Psychiatry, etc) so that they can decide whether the woman in question can have an abortion.
Permission is granted automatically when the woman in under 17 or over 45 and cases of rape and/or incest.
If you are over 17, under 45, married or single, if you do not have a pre-existing condition which puts you at risk you have to lie - about your mental health usually, that being pregnant is causing you to have suicidal thoughts and feelings.

This is what government "approved" medical abortions look like. There is a huge black market in Israel for women who can pay privately for abortions. Any doctor found giving this service is prosecuted and sentenced to five years imprisonment for operating outside the approval of what I like to call "The Shaming Committee".

Never before have I seen the religious establishment put their foot in and I blame Efrat (which I shan't be linking to) - the so-called non-profit organisation which is basically a pro-life organisation that claims to aid women financially in order to help them have the baby because abortion causes misery. They claim they give a woman options.
Yes, clearly, when they're trying to outlaw the measly access women have already to safe, medical abortions!

In Israel, unlike in the US and Ireland, the abortion debate is very covert, we're a very pro-natalist nation. So, while sex-ed 'round here is good because there is talk of prophylactics and hormonal birth control, termination of pregnancy is viewed as something of a taboo.

That these religious leaders are piping up on an issue does not bode well.

It fucking pisses me off!

Comments

[roga.livejournal.com]

Grrrrrrr arrrgh. Please let Knesset members (http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3826738,00.html) be strong enough to deal without straight away without it turning into a big issue.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Though this is an opportunity for reform and getting rid these shame committees and creating a system that will enable accessibility to abortion facilities without them being illegal.

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

Abortion is technically illegal in my State. It's hilarious, because there is a clinic in the next surburb to mine, hospitals perform them, so when I told my housemate it was illegal he didn't believe me, because abortion is easy enough, and you don't need any reason.

But...it's illegal. It's just one of those things that the police rarely charges anyone for. It made the news when a woman was charged last year, the first time since the 60s - and the only reason she was charged was because she didn't do it with a doctor, but used a pill that wasn't prescribed. Will see how that trial goes. I still think it's dumb it's illegal.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

That makes absolutely no sense!

Sheesh.

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

IT makes not sense...until you see the make-up of the factions in power. The ruling Party has a very strong Catholic faction, and they won't let it be legalised. The leader is pro-choice but she has to contend with the Catholic faction, not to mention the more conservative opposition, it get all types of complicated after that.

Let's just say, the whole illegal but mostly allowed is the delicate balance between keeping the conservative factions happy, but letting most women have the choice if they want, which makes the voters happy, because on this issue, most of the people are either pro-choice, or don't really care.

After all, almost every State in my country has decriminalised abortion. It's not really that contentious for most people.

ETA: Yeah, in conclusion, although I understand why it's happening, it's still dumb.