Thank you for the compliment.

My religious denomination’s views on the subject: http://www.uscj.org/The_Abortion_Controv5481.html

A few clarifications are needed, though, regarding in particular this statement

The Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards takes the view that an abortion is justifiable if a continuation of pregnancy might cause the mother severe physical or psychological harm, or when the fetus is judged by competent medical opinion as severely defective.

(1) The issue of the fetus being “severely defective” is somewhat controversial. Some Jewish authorities would say that we cannot distinguish the value of various human lives, therefore whether a fetus is “defective” or not cannot enter into the decision to abort as to abort a fetus with defect X but not without such a defect would be tantamount to immoral discrimination against people with defect X … however, some authorities do allow for abortions for severe enough defects (from Aish Ha’Torah’s [The Flame of Torah] site):

While most poskim forbid abortion for “defective” fetuses, Rabbi Eliezar Yehuda Waldenberg is a notable exception. Rabbi Waldenberg allows first trimester abortion of a fetus that would be born with a deformity that would cause it to suffer, and termination of a fetus with a lethal fetal defect such as Tay Sachs up to the seventh month of gestation. The rabbinic experts also discuss the permissibility of abortion for mothers with German measles and babies with prenatal confirmed Down syndrome.

(2) Some authorities do allow not only the life/health of the mother-to-be, but also the life/health of her kids (etc) to be considered (from http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_abor.htm):

One case involved a woman who becomes pregnant while nursing a child. Her milk supply would dry up. If the child is allergic to all other forms of nutrition except for its mother’s milk, then it would starve. An abortion would be permitted in this case. An abortion of the fetus, a potential person, would be justified to save the life of the child, an actual person.

(3) There is the issue of who can make the decision (which cuts into the political issue at hand): secular authorities or even family members simply have no role in this procedure. It is between a woman, her physician and her Rabbi. Indeed, most liberal (Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist or even Modern Orthodox) Rabbis would say that they could only advise a woman on Jewish law, but the decision must be up to her — as it is her body, her mind, her health and her life at stake … and only she knows what she can or cannot handle: only she knows whether a pregnancy is a mere inconvenience or whether it will actually affect her mental state in a sufficiently dramatic way to justify abortion.

Of course, much of what I have said is based on Rabbinical sources. Indeed, it’s debatible within such sources as to whether the rulings on abortion are considered to be “Rabbinical” or part of the “Oral Torah”. Also there is the question as to whether prohibitions against abortion are part of the Noachide laws (we Jews don’t believe, e.g., that everyone ought not to eat shellfish … only that we Jews ought not to do so … OTOH, we believe that nobody should murder). If they are, then we Jews should seek to legislate them in a secular context (provided the legal reasoning holds water according to secular law, which in general is similar to Jewish law, but not always), but if not, then we should not seek to do so. Certainly, a Christian would have no reason to accept what we Jews have to say about abortion in our Talmud — and what the Bible itself says is pretty much nothing, except for a few rulings (see the USCJ site) that clearly indicate a fetus is not a person and that its value, unlike a person’s, is finite.

At the very least, even if we Jews would say “well, we think our ideas about abortion should apply to everyone”, given that, vide supra, non-Jews (and even Karaites, who reject Rabbinic Judaism) don’t accept the texts from which our ideas come, chances are any anti-abortion legislation, after the sausage making that gets involved, would likely end up being rather contrary to Jewish views — e.g. abortions that are allowed or even mandatory because of the likely detriment to the pregnant woman, would be prohibited because Will Saletan (who is supposed to be Jewish and hence should know better) finds them “icky” even as such bills would not address Jewish concerns. Thus, since the legislation of morality would end up having the opposite effect, Jewish liberals (which is most of us) oppose any legislation prohibiting abortion … which, as you can see from the link, is the position of Conservative Judaism.

Another bit of humor was the number of women from the ruling classes that took “vacations” in Saratoga. Many of these were Mom/Daughter affairs and the local yokels fantasized it was for gambling and alcohol. Now, why would a 15 year old want to go boozing with Mom?

Anecdote is instructive in that I never knew many women that didn’t have s/sx of either medical or “back-alley” abortions. The ladies also were bereft of BC choices.

I found a highly amusing attempt by a Christian group to explain this passage away as meaning that passage actually refers to causing a premature live birth. (The author notes, cluelessly, that many rabbis and ‘Jewish thinkers’ have taken issue with his interpretation. Surely those silly Jews can’t be correct about their own language and holy text; it requires a *Christian* to translate it correctly!)

I will never forget the jaundiced woman in liver and kidney failure, in septic shock, with very severe anemia, whose life we were unable to save.

Also, try to find some empirical data on the actual numbers we would be talking about.

Fucking heart of stone have we, No Offence?

Already is in places with parental notification laws. Not enough to fill wards, but you do see it.

Can anyone say Becky Bell?

OTOH, I believe the doco, The Last Clinic in Mississippi, details some of what is now going on….

It will also be a problem of the young, who don’t have the networks to obtain illegal but professional care.

Already is in places with parental notification laws. Not enough to fill wards, but you do see it.