Jewish Ethics and Reproductive Justice
What does Jewish tradition say about abortion rights and reproductive justice? What does the Dobbs v. Jackson decision mean for access to basic reproductive health and for various methods of family formation?
Expert speakers address the facts on the ground and Jewish ethical teachings in this three-part series organized and facilitated by Minna Scherlinder Morse of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation and co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish Ethics and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).
Session 1 - Foundations: Choice & Justice
What ideas does Jewish tradition offer about when life begins, women’s right to reproductive freedom, and other key questions? What is “reproductive justice,” and how can we see the question of “choice” through that lens?
Speakers: Rabbi Mira Wasserman, PhD, Director of RRC’s Center for Jewish Ethics; and Jamille Fields Allsbrook, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Population Affairs at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and former Director of Women’s Health and Rights, Center for American Progress.
recorded April 20, 2023
Session 2 - Assisted Reproductive Technologies Post-Roe
How is Dobbs v. Jackson affecting fertility treatment and tools such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and associated technologies? What ethical issues already pertain in this arena, and how does Dobbs complicate them? And how may this disproportionately impact certain potential parents?
Speakers: Cantor Sarah Myerson, an Advisory Board member of the National Council of Jewish Women’s Rabbis for Repro; and Milan Pham, an attorney focusing on LGBTQ+ family law, and board member of Carolina Jews for Justice.
recorded April 27, 2023
Session 3 - Adoption & Child Welfare Post-Roe
What does the Dobbs decision suggest about domestic infant adoption? In this ethically complex sphere, what progress has been made in recent decades, and what are and may be the repercussions of this decision? How might it also impact our already overwhelmed and arguably overreaching child welfare system?
Speakers: Gabrielle Glaser, journalist and author of American Baby: A Mother, A Child, and the Secret History of Adoption; Gregory Luce, attorney and Founder, the Adoptee Rights Law Center; and Anna Arons, Assistant Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law (formerly at NYU Law).
recorded May 4, 2023
