Aboritoin one of many "Jewish" positions.

In RavKav, a rabbis list server, there was a discussion on "Jewish Political Views" which began with a diatribe against "right wing" views held by some Rabbis. After my "flame" on this subject matter, a more nuanced questions was put forth:


"Shouldn't Jewish values have some say in our political views?"


I answered the following concerning abortion:


Without going into abortion to start with, I believe that, in political thought, and in a democracy, while we need to be guided by our values we also need to be respectful of our fellow citizens values. Therefore, whatever we think of abortion itself, we need to take into account that a good portion of American society believes that life starts at inception, and that killing a fetus is murder.


We don't need to agree with this position, and if it is unethical, or antithetical to Jewish thinking we can oppose it. But unless it's evil in some fundamental way, we need to respect it.


The Jewish position on the relative value of a fetus and a mother is that the mother takes precedence.


There is value to a fetus in the bible, at least, according to
Parashat Mishpatim:


22. And should men quarrel and hit a pregnant woman, and she miscarries but there is no fatality, he shall surely be punished, when the woman's husband makes demands of him, and he shall give [restitution] according to the judges' [orders].

כב. וְכִי יִנָּצוּ אֲנָשִׁים וְנָגְפוּ אִשָּׁה הָרָה וְיָצְאוּ

יְלָדֶיהָ וְלֹא יִהְיֶה אָסוֹן עָנוֹשׁ יֵעָנֵשׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר יָשִׁית

עָלָיו בַּעַל הָאִשָּׁה וְנָתַן בִּפְלִלִים:

23. But if there is a fatality, you shall give a life for a life,

כג. וְאִם אָסוֹן יִהְיֶה וְנָתַתָּה נֶפֶשׁ תַּחַת נָפֶשׁ:

Rashi comments that there is an argument as to whether monetary compensation cannot be accorded.

* ואם אסון יהיה - באשה

* ונתתה נפש תחת נפש - , (סנהדרין עט) רבותינו חולקים בדבר יש אומרים

נפש ממש ויש אומרים ממון אבל לא נפש ממש שהמתכוין להרוג את זה והרג את זה

פטור ממיתה ומשלם ליורשיו דמיו כמו שהיה נמכר בשוק

And if there is a miscarriage (tragedy) then according to SanHedrin there is a dispute between Rabbis, some saying that "eye for an eye" means the death penalty, and others that it refers to compensation, and not capital punishment.  Because the miscarriage was an unintended result of the attack...

 It seems clear from the above, that the reason the punishment is not death is that the death of the fetus was not intended.


But the death of the fetus is precisely what is intended when an abortion takes place. So the catholic position has some solid Jewish sources, and needs to be respected.


My belief is that a balanced approach from a political point of view would be:
1.  Permit abortions in the first trimester, but frown and discourage abortions for any reasons other than health of the mother, rape or incest.
2. Abortions past the first trimester should be forbidden, and
3. We clearly cannot use tax money for purposes that a good portion of tax payers believe is murder. Specially since our own sources support this theory as well.