Some progressives are arguing for a religious right to abortion
The Book of Exodus contains a section about liability. It is a bit outdated, enumerating damages if someone’s bull gores another person’s slave. But one parable is relevant to abortion debates today, since it elucidates how Judaism understands the unborn. If a pregnant woman is hit and suffers a miscarriage, the perpetrator must pay a fine. If she dies, however, the penalty is death. The tale is said to differentiate between the value of a fetus and a person. Other Jewish texts also hold that life doesn’t begin at conception.
The justification for outlawing abortion is to protect fetal life; some states’ bans say this explicitly. Yet that rationale rests on a religious belief about when life begins. What about people whose faith maintains that it starts later? Indeed Jewish law authorises, and even requires, an abortion if a mother’s health—physical or mental—is jeopardised. Jews disagree about what degree of risk warrants the procedure. But the general principle is that her well-being takes priority.
In Indiana and Kentucky, several Jewish women are seeking religious exemptions from their states’ abortion bans in court. The restrictions, they say, make it impossible to get an abortion when their faith might mandate one. The lawsuit in Indiana is joined by a Muslim and a woman who describes herself as a non-theistic believer in the sanctity of bodily autonomy. It is the further along of the two cases: on December 6th the Indiana Court of Appeals, which sits one rung below the state’s highest court, will take it up. Similar challenges have been brought by religious leaders in Florida and Missouri.
2023-11-16 09:48:08
Link from www.economist.com
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