The Alabama Human Life Protection Act: A Jewish Law Perspective

Abstract

On May 2, 2022, Politico reported that a draft of the Supreme Court of the United States’ opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization had been leaked and will overturn Roe v. Wade. In the leaked draft, Justice Alito writes, “The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.” However, is this truly the case? The Court has historically cited to religious texts especially from the Judeo-Christian tradition when determining whether a right is “deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.” For example in Miranda v. Arizona, the Court quotes from Maimonides’ Code of Law to assert that the privilege against self-incrimination has ancient roots. In this spirit, this essay will look at one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country and examine it through a Jewish law perspective. What is a Jewish law perspective? The Jews are known as the “People of the Book,” so it is no surprise that Jews have been writing interpretations of the Torah (the Written Law) and interpretations of those interpretations of the Torah for thousands of years. Jewish law is a broad, complex, and ambiguous category. Specific to this paper, I will focus on the Torah, the Talmud, responsa, and opinions of respected Jewish legal scholars, such as Maimonides and Rabbi David Bleich, when examining how Jewish law would evaluate the Alabama Human Life Protection Act. I entered this project with an open mind. My hypothesis was contrary to my ultimate conclusions in this paper. My hope is that this paper will serve as a tool for those with an open mind to begin to think of how Jewish law would evaluate the current state of abortion law in the United States.

Keywords: abortion, Alabama, United States, Trump, Jewish law

JEL Classification: k00, z12