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After Roe

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) and Reconstructing Judaism denounce the Supreme Court’s decision to suppress both bodily autonomy and religious freedom. 

We agree and amplify this statement by National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz:

Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is a moral failure.  It will put lives at risk. By overturning 50 years of precedent, safe and vital abortion care is now virtually inaccessible to millions of people who need it. In the weeks and months ahead, we will see the devastating impact this ruling will have on human lives. 

The RRA and Reconstructing Judaism have long supported access to abortion care as a human right. We know that this decision will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and people of color as well as LGBTQ+ individuals and others already marginalized who face enormous obstacles in accessing health care.  We will continue to support efforts to ensure that this right is codified and protected by legislation, within federal law as well as at the state level, and to support efforts to assure that all of those who require abortion services and other reproductive medical care can access that care safely. We encourage our communities to support abortion access and reproductive justice. 

As a religious minority in America, we are especially chilled by this suppression of our freedom to practice our religion as we see fit. In Jewish law, abortion is permitted and on some occasions even mandated, especially to save life of the mother. Jewish conceptions of the divine and Jewish religious practices are erased by this imposition of a narrow religious view in a manner that violates our First Amendment rights.

Today, we encourage all members of our communities to attend the NCJW’s Jewish Vigil for Abortion justice today at 4:00 pm ET and to donate to NCJW’s Jewish Abortion Fund which will help pregnant people access abortion care.  

We recommend this havdalah service for the loss of abortion access created by NCJW that we are hosting on Ritualwell, which has additional resources for spiritual bolstering at this challenging time. 

Min hametzar karati yah anani vamerkhav yah (Psalm 118:5)

From out of the narrow place, I called to God and God answered me from a God-filled, expansive space. May we all work so that we can together create expansive, God-filled spaces.

The Reconstructionist Network