Using Jewish Law: Jewish Religious Liberty Advocacy for the Right to Abortion

33 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2024

See all articles by Michael A. Helfand

Michael A. Helfand

Pepperdine University - Rick J. Caruso School of Law

Date Written: September 17, 2024

Abstract

In the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women’s Health, scholars and courts alike have turned their attention to Jewish Law’s approach to abortion—an approach that resists categorization as either pro-choice or pro-life. Instead, Jewish law both disapproves of abortion generally, but still endorses—and even requires—abortion when it promotes the health and “well-being” of the mother, broadly construed. These unique features of Jewish law, especially the requirement of abortion when the mother’s well-being is at stake, has for some time generated significant religious liberty advocacy on the part of Jewish organizations. A view of the history, as told through amicus brief filings over the past 50 years, highlights how shifts in the Supreme Court’s abortion doctrine have generated changes within Jewish religious liberty advocacy. Indeed, in the pre-Dobbs era, religious exemptions found a home within some traditionalist Jewish groups, while progressive Jewish groups discounted their constitutional validity. By contrast, in the post-Dobbs era, the roles appear to have reversed, with progressive Jewish groups advancing claims for religious exemptions, while the advocacy of some traditional Jewish groups has become more muted. And yet others, given the poor fit between Jewish law and litigation over the right to abortion, have intentionally and explicitly chosen to avoid the fray. All told, the story of Jewish religious liberty advocacy on abortion captures the dilemma’s facing a religious minority in its attempt to maintain the consistency and integrity of its legal advocacy amidst ongoing culture wars.

Keywords: Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women’s Health, Jewish law, abortion, mother’s health, U.S. Supreme Court, religious liberty

Suggested Citation

Helfand, Michael A., Using Jewish Law: Jewish Religious Liberty Advocacy for the Right to Abortion (September 17, 2024). Wayne Law Review, Volume 70, No. 1, Pp. 51-81, Pepperdine University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2024/2, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4704059

Michael A. Helfand (Contact Author)

Pepperdine University - Rick J. Caruso School of Law ( email )

24255 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90263
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
392
Abstract Views
1,379
Rank
161,787
PlumX Metrics