Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill on May 17 that criminalizes most abortions, threatening providers, such as Planned Parenthood with a felony conviction and up to 99 years in prison.
It was one of the numerous efforts across the United States to restrict access to abortion and challenge the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized the practice nationwide.
Six states have recently passed legislation that limits abortions to approximately six weeks after the end of a woman's last period, before many know they are pregnant. Although the laws have not yet taken effect and several have been blocked on constitutional grounds, if enacted the legislation would prohibit most abortions once a doctor can hear rhythmic electrical impulses in the developing fetus.
Called "fetal heartbeat" bills, they generally refer to the fetus as an "unborn human individual" and recognize that human life begins at conception. This view is held by many religious individuals.
However, not all people who hold traditional or religious views on the matter agree and many get lost in the polarized "pro-life" or "pro-choice" debate.
While Jewish practices and laws are derived from biblical and Talmudic sources, "halacha" or Jewish law has been passed down for generations. Jews across different political as well as religious observant spectrums attribute various amounts of adherence to the traditional law.
Rachel Mikva, an associate professor of Jewish studies at the Chicago Theological Seminary, who has served as a rabbi for 13 years, says some Jewish texts argue that a fetus does not attain the status of personhood until birth.
Mikva lays out the issue of abortion in Jewish texts, below:
Although the Bible does not mention abortion, it does talk about miscarriage in Exodus 21:22-25. It imagines the case of men fighting, in a scenario where a pregnant woman has been injured in the process. If she miscarries but suffers no additional injury, the penalty for the man is a fine.
Since the death of a person would be murder or manslaughter and carry a different penalty, most rabbinic sources deduce from these verses that a fetus has a different status altogether.
The Mishnah discusses the question of a woman in distress during labor. If her life is at risk, the fetus must be aborted in order to save her. Once its head starts to emerge from the birth canal, however, it becomes a human life, or nefesh. At that point, one must try to save both mother and child. Jewish law prohibits setting aside one life for the sake of another.
Orthodox authorities allow abortion only when the mother's life is at risk.
Some Jewish scholars point to a different Mishnah passage that envisions the case of a pregnant woman who was sentenced to death. The execution would not be delayed unless she has already gone into labor.
In the Talmud, the rabbis suggest that the ruling is obvious: The fetus is part of her body. It also records an opinion that the fetus should be aborted before the sentence is carried out so that the woman does not suffer further shame.
These teachings represent only a small fraction of Jewish interpretations, writes Mikva.
Over the centuries, rabbis have addressed cases related to potentially deformed fetuses, pregnancy as the result of rape or adultery.
In contemporary Jewish debate, there are stringent opinions that regard abortion as homicide – thus permissible only to save the mother's life. Yet many in the Orthodox community have argued that abortion is equivalent to infanticide, while many in the Conservative and Reform communities have found it permissible for various reasons. Still, in the Orthodox community there exist some lenient interpretations which find justifications based on the woman's well-being.
In the United States, all non-orthodox movements have statements that support aborting the fetus, while some Orthodox leaders have resisted anti-abortion measures that do not allow for religious exceptions.
