The Abortion Debate Redux - A report from the bad old days

Let me begin by saying that I am not neutral in this matter. I am unequivocally pro-choice and think that those who try to deny that choice are abetting murder.

There I have said it. But now the back-story:

It was the 60’s – my very first campus position. I was still a rabbinical student and working part time as a chaplain at a university campus. Truth be told, for all of the political activism which defined us in those days, the incident I am about to relate caught me unprepared and unaware.

A small group of undergraduate women approached me to discuss something causing them great distress. It appears that in those pre Roe v Wade days, an unwanted pregnancy presented very few options. One could go out of the country or one might persuade a doctor to refer a young woman to another state under reasons of mental stress to terminate the pregnancy. In either case, it almost always required parental consent, money, and shame. Or, all too often there was another more private but more risky choice. Today we call them back alley abortions but for many many women, it was the only discreet and affordable choice.

The women who came to see me were distraught because a fellow undergraduate had gone for just such an abortion – and died. Died. What could I, as a chaplain, say to them? What did the Jewish Tradition say to them? What comfort or understanding might I provide? Was this death really necessary? In hindsight, I doubt I had much to say. But it did awaken me to an underbelly that crossed ethnic, religious, racial, and even economic lines. There were simply too few legal and safe options, and unwanted pregnancies didn’t respect boundaries.

Soon thereafter, I became connected with what was then called the Clergy Consultation Service and for the next 3 years spent a lot of my chaplaincy time advising young women on the campuses where I was working on their options. [The other major claim on my time was draft counseling – remember?] Over that time, New York liberalized its laws and then Roe v Wade change the law of the land. Soon, the phenomenon of back alley deaths was becoming a thing of the past. Or so we thought.

Before proceeding, a few clarifications: While my own views toward a woman’s right to choose are unequivocal, it would be disingenuous to suggest that the Jewish tradition agrees. However, the Jewish tradition is unequivocal in underscoring the primacy of the life and health of the woman over the claim of the fetus. The Jewish tradition is quite clear that for these purposes, life begins at birth and not at conception. The Jewish tradition affirms that blanket prohibitions [or approvals for that matter] cannot work because the circumstances faced by each woman may be different. Therefore, even those whose view might be more stringent than mine would acknowledge that a blanket secular law prohibiting abortion would limit the Jewish tradition’s situational flexibility.

Another clarification: the issue at hand is the discussion of unwanted pregnancy. Of all of the many women whom I counseled in those days, none were using this as a mindless alternative to prophylaxis; all approached the question with the seriousness such a decision should demand. When safe options were not available, women only wanted to discuss how to get a safe termination to their pregnancy; when safety was no longer an issue, the discussions focused on the values and meaning of their choices – and choice mattered, some chose to continue to term and some didn’t.

Which brings us to the health care reform debate. I am concerned about the cavalier attitude of lawmakers who view support for a woman’s choice to affirm her own life as a dispensable right. I am concerned that whole generations of women and men have become so lackadaisical about this fragile right and the even more fragile access to reliable and safe options. Finally, I am concerned that too few remember that time, not that many years ago, when hangers and back alley murderers were not abstract metaphors. I fear that if we aren’t adamant that these choices continue to be real, available, and funded, these memories of 40 years ago will become all too real again.

Those who would block abortion rights are the real accessories to murder. Let us insist on the right to life for every woman – her own.