Many pro choice articles have been written by liberal rabbis that address the less common problem of a mother in danger but simultaneously seem to ignore.
1) The inevitable aspect of a child in danger which happens in 100 percent of abortions. Whereas the vast majority of pregnancies are not risky enough to warrant even the discussion of an abortion.
2) Also ignored is how this should be addressed as public policy of the Torah observant Jewish community, in the context of the American legal and political systems, both federal and state.
3) The difference in positions of leading rabbinical scholars (poskim) in the 1970s and now also has bearing. There was no track record of so much bloodshed of fetuses (including late trimester pregnancies) back then.
The truth is, the halachic median under all these contexts nowadays calls for advocation of a Pro Life stance, while also seeking to provide legal recourse services and advocacy for the exceptional cases where the mother is in danger, which is becoming more and more rare as scientific advancements continue to blossom each year.
There are legal protections affordable for mothers in such crises; but none for a baby after it is killed.
Under halachah a mother’s right to life comes first. But if the choice is the baby’s life or the mother’s right to lifestyle, the baby’s right to life comes first.
The Torah urges us, “becharta bachayim, choose life.” (Deut. 30)
Don’t continue to advocate for a position that you know God does not want, because of shame from an abortion you may have pursued or advised in your youth.
Be the advocate for life that the Holy Torah demands of us all. That the fate of many children of your people may yet hinge on.
Repeat after me: “Life, life, there has to be life!”
“Life, life, there has to be life!”
“This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses of you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live;” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
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