Your religious freedom is on the ballot Aug. 2, Kansas. Vote no on abortion amendment
On Aug. 2, Kansans will be voting on a constitutional amendment that would specify that access to an abortion is not a constitutional right in the state, and that members of the Legislature would have the power to determine the legality of all abortions. If this amendment passes, the Kansas Republican Party has already drafted a law to eliminate virtually all legal abortions in the state. The bill, H.B. 2746, begins with the words: “Unlawful performance of an abortion is knowingly performing an abortion, regardless of the gestational age of the unborn child.”
This law would make virtually every pregnancy termination from conception until birth illegal. It would not only restrict abortion access, but would also have an impact on those seeking fertility treatments.
Jewish law is not monolithic in its approach toward abortion. Both across all Jewish denominations and within each one, there are varieties of understanding of abortion. Judaism’s view does not fit in as neatly into the “pro-choice”/”pro-life” binary we typically see in American public debate. What we have seen in recent years, though, is that many Jewish denominations are lining up behind American political parties. Liberal Jewish denominations are defining themselves as pro-choice, and more recently, pro-life organizations organized by subsets of Jewish orthodoxy have aligned themselves with America’s right wing.
The Jewish polarization between major American political parties obscures the fact that among the many opinions about abortion in Jewish law, there are things that Jewish scholars agree on. Virtually all rabbis believe that there are some permissible circumstances under which abortions may be secured. Though we may not all agree on which circumstances, we all agree that some exist. The new Kansas law, though, would outlaw all abortions.
Under this law, Kansas would criminalize the provision of medical treatment to a woman as advised by her own rabbi. It is not unusual for Jews of all denominations (as with Americans of every faith) to seek religious counsel in many areas of medical ethics, including infertility, end of life, mental health care and, yes, termination of a pregnancy. Different faith traditions have a variety of answers to many of life’s most vexing ethical dilemmas.
By criminalizing all abortions — including in those situations permitted by all Jewish denominations — Republican lawmakers are seeking to impose one religious belief system on all Kansans. A fundamental tenet of the U.S. Constitution is that government may not impose religious beliefs on its citizens.
Standing against this amendment in August by voting no is to stand strongly in favor of the free exercise of religion. By voting no, we are all free to make our personal health care decisions, guided by our own religious principles.
Rabbi David M. Glickman is the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Overland Park.
