March 27, 2024 – In response to United States Supreme Court oral arguments on March 26, 2024, in a consequential case that could significantly change access to medication abortion, Jofa reiterates its support for access to reproductive care – in this case, specifically the medication mifepristone, which helps millions of women access the care they need, including abortions and management of miscarriages.
Jofa is proud to join together with numerous Jewish women’s and reproductive rights organizations, including the National Council of Jewish Women, the Religious Action Center, Women of Reform Judaism, and fellow Jewish Abortion Access Coalition colleagues, uniting with the broader reproductive health, rights, and justice community, to loudly and proudly proclaim our support for abortion access. Our Jewish voices are needed now more than ever.
Mifepristone is a life-saving medication used in the most common abortion method in the US today — medication abortion — in which patients take mifepristone and misoprostol to end pregnancies. Medication abortion accounted for over 63% of all abortions in the US last year. Mifepristone is also used to manage miscarriages (20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage), as well as pregnancy complications. It has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for over 20 years. Despite research demonstrating its safety and efficacy, anti-abortion activists seek to ban the medication, claiming that the FDA overstepped its authority.
As the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has clearly stated: “Restricting access to mifepristone — the safety of which is proven by decades of rigorous scientific study and millions of uses — in ways that are not medically necessary or scientifically sound would seriously increase risk for hundreds of thousands of patients, while protecting none.”
We were encouraged to hear some Justices’ skepticism as to whether the anti-abortion group bringing the case has standing to pursue this baseless suit, as well as some Justices’ recognition of the harm that will come to women nationwide if the lower court decision stands.
As we await the Court’s decision, likely by late June, we will continue raising our voices and raising awareness of its significance, affirming that reproductive freedom is a Jewish value, and that medication abortion does not violate halakha (Jewish law).
As a matter of principle, Jofa affirms every woman’s religious and reproductive freedom to decide when and how to build her family. It is a woman’s legal right to make decisions about, and have control over, her own body, without the involvement of government or any other entity. Every woman should have the right to access the health care she needs, and make her own decisions about personal religious and medical matters, according to her own religious beliefs, free from stigma and while retaining human dignity.
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