Reform Movement Leaders Deplore New Texas Anti-Abortion Law

New York, September 1, 2021 – In response to a new Texas anti-abortion law that came into effect today, leaders of Reform Jewish Movement institutions issued the following statement:

We denounce, in the strongest terms, the law that went into effect today in Texas, effectively making abortion care illegal in that state. In the most insidious state abortion restriction adopted to date, this Texas law makes abortion illegal as early as six weeks, before many are even aware that they are pregnant. The law is manipulatively designed to thwart courts’ ability to protect reproductive freedom, prohibiting state officials from enforcing the law but empowering any Texan to sue any person—an abortion provider, a counselor, a member of the clergy, a clinic worker, even a driver who delivers a person to a clinic, to name a few examples—who assists in accessing abortion care. For this reason, many Texas clinics are now unable to provide abortion care at all, as they are understandably unwilling to place their workers at intolerable risk from potentially ruinous lawsuits enabled by this Texas law.

We are concerned about individuals who cannot afford to travel long distances to secure abortion care in neighboring states. We are also deeply concerned about Jews who will be unable to pursue an abortion in keeping with Jewish law, which mandates abortion when necessary to preserve the pregnant person’s wellbeing. With respect to Judaism’s own limited approval of abortion: ‘as we would not impose the historic position of Jewish teaching upon individuals nor legislate it as normative for society at large, so we would not wish the position of any other group imposed upon the Jewish community or the general population.’” We also ground ourselves in kavod ha’briyot—the sacred obligation to provide medical care.

We will continue to work to overturn this law, prevent similar laws from being adopted in other states, and affirm the right of every person to make their own reproductive health decisions.
 

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Lewis Kamrass
President   

Rabbi Hara E. Person
Chief Executive
 

Union for Reform Judaism

Jennifer Brodkey Kaufman
Chair

Rabbi Rick Jacobs
President
 

Commission on Social Action and Religious Action Center

Susan Friedberg Kalson
Chair

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Director


Women of Reform Judaism

Sara Charney
President

Rabbi Marla J. Feldman
Executive Director


Women’s Rabbinic Network

Rabbi Beth Klafter
Rabbi Emily Segal
Co-Presidents

Rabbi Mary Zamore
Executive Director


American Conference of Cantors

Cantor Claire Franco
President                                                                                            

Rachel Roth
Chief Operating Officer


NFTY, the Reform Jewish Youth Movement

Lev Mosbacher
President

Lynne Butner
Director of NFTY Engagement


Reform Pension Board

Leonard Teitelbaum
President

Michael A. Kimmel
Chief Executive Officer


Program & Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism

Jason Plotkin
President


Association of Reform Jewish Educators

Marisa Kaiser
President

Rabbi Stanley T. Schickler
Executive Director


Men of Reform Judaism

Rob Himmelstein
President

Steven Portnoy
Executive Director
 

National Association for Temple Administration

Jack Feldman
President

Michael Liepman
Executive Director


Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism

Fern Katz
President 

Tricia Ginis
Executive Director


National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis

Sheldon Harr
President

Julian and Susie Cook
Co-Executive Vice Presidents