Monotheistic religions and their relation to abortion: the state of play of a more complex situation than it appears (3/3)

Temps de lecture : 7 minutes

Monotheistic religions and their relation to abortion: the state of play of a more complex situation than it appears (3/3)

25.06.2020

Written by Armand Taï

Translated by Kaouther Bouhi

The last monotheistic religion dedicated to our section on religions and abortion is Judaism. Although in minority demographically, compared to Christianity and Islam, its cultural influence was equally important in the history of humanity. Today, Jewish people are the majority only in Israel but also constitute important minorities in some Western countries such as the United States of America. Throughout history, many movements have been developed within Judaism and their opinions differ on abortion. Their positions stem mainly from two sources: Tanakh and Talmud, the first one being what we call the Hebraic Bible and the second one the oral tradition. Halakha^[1]Jewish law is based on these sources. In contrary to Christianity, no branch of Judaism completely prohibits abortion, and as we will see later, all the Judaic groups allow abortion for the cases which are considered serious. However, in this article, we will only review the actual and numerically important movements of Judaism, thus excluding the movements which are, today, faded or marginal. Therefore, the branches reviewed in this article will be Orthodox Judaism, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, liberal and reformists Jews and Masorti Judaism, also known as Conservative Judaism.

Abortion in Judaism: few elements in the written sources, more content in the unwritten law

Firstly, we should look to the very sources of Judaism, which are Tanakh and Talmud. They constitute, at varying degree, the fundamentals of the different movements that form the Jewish Thought on the religious and social issues. There is no verse which explicitly deals with abortion in Tanakh. Nevertheless, a passage is frequently quoted to justify the impermissibility of abortion in the chapter of Exodus, chapter 21, verses 22 and 23: “And if men strive together, and hurt a pregnant woman, so that her fruit [children] come out, and yet no harm follows; the one who hit her shall surely be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall impose upon him; and he shall pay a fine as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall pay life for life”^[2]Bible according to Louis Segond, Chapter 21 of Exodus, verses 22 and 23

Nonetheless, the unwritten Jewish law contains passages dealing more clearly with abortion. Thus, in the tractate of Ohaloth, VII, 6, it is considered that in case of serious danger for the child and the mother, the life of the child is only as sacred as the mother’s when the child is out of the womb^[3]Kassel Abelson et Ben Zion Bokser, “A Statement on the permissibility of Abortion”, 21/10/1983, Available at: … Continue reading. In this tractate of Talmud, it is also added that in this kind of situation, “the child can be considered as the aggressor of the mother”^[4]Ibid. and therefore, in this case, a termination of pregnancy can be justified. Consequently, abortion is allowed by the unwritten Jewish law when the mother’s life is in danger. 

Yet, the biblical and Talmudic passages previously quoted are not unanimously interpreted by the different theological schools of Judaism. Beyond the interpretation, there is also the question of the importance to give to these texts which are in contradiction with each other according to the orthodox and reformist schools. Indeed, the different branches of Judaism do not grant the same authority to Talmud, some consider it as sacred and thus untouchable, when others esteem that it is a theological compendium that do not necessarily need to be literally followed and which can be reinterpreted according to the era.

To facilitate the study, the branches of Judaism studied will be divided in two main categories. The first one will deal with non-orthodox groups and the second one with orthodox groups.

Non-orthodox Judaism: a globally liberal position on abortion

The main Jewish groups which can claim to be followers of the non-orthodox movement are the Reform Judaism, the Masorti Judaism, the reconstructionist Judaism and the Humanistic Judaism. If these groups are different on many theological issues, they all, however, adopt a more liberal position as to abortion than the orthodox branches of Judaism.

Masorti Judaism is the most conservative group of non-orthodox Jews. Thus, its approach regarding abortion is closer to the one of orthodox groups. Indeed, this movement considers that abortion can only be allowed if the mother’s life is going to be in danger during labor. If the rabbis of this movement consider abortion as being morally wrong and should be avoided, they refuse to politically campaign for its prohibition to women who would want to get it^[5]Dorff Elliot, « La contraception et l’avortement », Massorti France, available at: https://www.massorti.com/la-contraception-et-l-avortement. Surprisingly, they even counsel to use condoms rather than seeking abortion, while many religions condemn this form of contraception. According to the interpretation of Talmud by Masorti rabbis, the fetus is really a human being only when it is out of the womb. Therefore, in this sense, an abortion is not considered as the act of killing a human being. Ultimately, Masorti Judaism mainly discourages abortion for demographic reasons. Indeed, it is considered as a religious duty for Jews to multiply and to have at least two children to rebuild the Jewish people. Yet, abortion goes against this religious commandment and would engender the Jews^[6]Ibid.

“Reconstructionist Judaism”, a split of Masorti Judaism, which is also the most recent Jewish movement created, shares a similar position concerning abortion: it should only be sought when the mother’s life is in danger of death during childbirth. Reconstructionist Jews also refrain themselves from politically campaigning for restricting these rights to abortion for women^[7]Zevit Shawn et Hirsh Richard, “JRF statement on reproductive rights”, Religious Institute, 2006, disponible sur: … Continue reading.

Progressist or Reform Judaism offers an even more liberal and tolerant outlook on abortion. If this Jewish movement recalls that abortion should ideally only be practiced when the mother’s life is in danger or if her health may be severely affected in the manner of what is indicated in Talmud, Progressist Jews argue that the final decision to abort, whatever the reasons, is only up to the choice of the woman who cannot be, under no circumstances, be condemned for it^[8]Zupan Julie, “What is the Reform Jewish perspective on abortion?”, ReformJudaism.org, availabale at: https://reformjudaism.org/what-reform-perspective-abortion. It should be noted that many organizations claiming to be following Reform Judaism, such as the Women of Reform Judaism which actively campaigns for lifting the ban on abortion in the United Stated of America^[9]Ibid. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has also done numerous public announcements since 1967 to support the right to abortion for women and to contest every attempt of the State to legislate in order to limit access to abortion^[10]Ibid..  In France, the rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Movement, Delphine Horvilleur, is a part of this movement and also considers that abortion should be favored when the mother is in danger without, however, considering that abortion should be banned^[11]Sweeny Nadia, « Delphine Horvilleur : le livre est sacré à condition que vous le laissiez parler à l’infini », Le Courrier de l’Atlas, 03/09/2018, available at: … Continue reading.

Among all those branches of non-orthodox Judaism, Humanistic Judaism is the one which speaks the most in favor of access to abortion for Jewish women. Indeed, this movement is more cultural than religious and, thus, distances itself with the religious traditions which are deemed way too distant of the mores of our modern societies, especially regarding abortion. Therefore, just like the Reform Jews, the Humanistic Jews contest all the attempts of the state authorities to limit the rights to abortion or even to contraception, considering that it is unacceptable that due to religious beliefs women who want to proceed to this operation will be denied from it^[12]“Society for Humanistic Judaism speaks out against conscience clauses”, Society for Humanistic Judaism, disponible sur: … Continue reading. They also insist on the fact that if doctors were to use a conscience clause to refrain from carrying out a termination of pregnancy, hospitals should then be obligated to find other people able to perform an abortion^[13]Ibid.

Non-orthodox movements in Judaism are therefore commonly more liberal on the topic of abortion, they even defend it. But what about orthodox movements? Are they as restrictive on abortion than some conservative movements within Christianity or Islam?

Orthodox movements in Judaism, as intransigent than Christianity on abortion?

Orthodox movements in Judaism can be divided in two branches. The first branche being the “orthodox Judaism” and the second the “ultra-orthodox Judaism”, also called Haredi Judaism. Even though their positions are firmer on abortion, there has never been, on the other hand, an absolute prohibition to perform an abortion, unlike some Christian groups.

Orthodox Jews insist on the fact that according to their interpretations, the Jewish law is against abortion except if the mother’s life is in danger. The orthodox rabbis consider that abortion is just like a murder or like “the murder of a potential life”^[14]Sales Ben, « Orthodox rabbis compare abortion to murder and Orthodox women are angry about it”, 01/31/2019, available at: … Continue reading. When it comes to ultra-orthodox Jews, they also estimate that a Jewish woman must not abort, an act that must remain prohibited in most cases. The only exception remains the risk to endanger the mother’s life during childbirth. It is the official position of the Rabbinical Council of America, one of the main orthodox organizations in America^[15]Ibid. and also the one of the Agudath Israel of America, a big ultra-orthodox organization in America^[16]“Statement of Agudath Israel of America on the NY Reproductive Health Act”, 01/30/2019, available at: … Continue reading.

Conclusion

Judaism is therefore the less stringent monotheistic religion regarding abortion as even the most conservative movements are in favor of its legalization, at least partially^[17]Masci David, “Where major religious group stand on abortion”, Pew Research Center, 06/21/2016, available at: … Continue reading. The vast majority of American Jews (the second biggest community of Jews in the world) is, in fact, one of the “religious” groups the most in favor for abortion in the United States^[18]Masci David, “American Religious Group vary widely in their views of abortion”, Pew Research Center, 01/22/2018, available at: … Continue reading.

Therefore, we can find within different Jewish groups positions ranging from the full legalization of abortion for all the cases to the strong condemnation of the latter, except for extreme cases. Nonetheless, even the most conservative movements in Judaism do not totally prohibit abortion and consider that it can be envisaged in order to save the life of a woman. This series of articles has enabled us to show that the relation between the monotheistic religions and a societal issue as sensitive as abortion is far from being static and uniform.

To cite this article: Armand Taï, “Monotheistic religions and their relation to abortion: the state of play of a more complex situation than it appears (3/3)”, 06.25.2020, Gender in Geopolitics Institute