A prominent rabbinic organization has denounced New York State's newly-passed Reproductive Health Act. The law not only declares that abortion is a "fundamental right," but entirely removes illegal abortion, whether by a practitioner or malicious assailant, from the New York Penal Law. The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1000 traditional rabbis in matters of public policy, called the law "indefensible" from a moral and humanitarian perspective.
"According to this law," said Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, Chairman of the Rabbinic Circle of the CJV, "late-term abortions may be performed literally until right before birth, even by non-doctors, and not only in order to save the mother’s life but also 'to protect a patient’s health' — and even decriminalized illegal abortions. New York State has asserted that a woman’s convenience and whim are more important than the life of another."
Rabbi Gordimer, who has written extensively on this topic, also pointed to numerous cases where women were attacked specifically due to their pregnancy, with intent to harm or kill her fetus. "The same legislators who have defined entirely new 'protected classes' have stripped expectant mothers — and their unborn children — of protection. This is morally indefensible. That they imagine this better for humanity simply boggles the mind."
