“When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined according as the woman’s husband may exact from him, the payment to be based on reckoning. But if other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, a burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

—Exodus 21:22-25

This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, includes the verses that form the foundation of the rabbis’ understanding of reproductive rights for women.

As Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg explains:

In other words, if someone accidentally causes a miscarriage to take place, they are obligated to pay financial damages only; the case is not treated as manslaughter or murder, which would demand the death penalty. The “other damage” that would demand the death penalty (“life for life”) would be the death of the pregnant person herself (or some other serious punishment relating to the damage caused—”eye for eye, tooth for tooth …”). In other words, causing the termination of a pregnancy is not, in the Torah, considered murder.

Rabbi Ruttenberg and other scholars demonstrate that while the fetus certainly has status, it does not achieve “personhood” until birth.

Following this, Jewish legal authorities across centuries have not only allowed abortion when the life of the mother is endangered, but have required it, as her life supersedes that of the fetus. Some traditional authorities as well as many contemporary halakhic experts include the emotional and mental well-being in considering the life of the mother in this equation.

Rabbi Ben-Zion Chai Uziel, the first chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, wrote: “It is clear that abortion is not permitted without reason. That would be destructive and frustrative of the possibility of life. But for a reason, even if it is a slim reason, such as to prevent disgrace, then we have precedent and authority to permit it.” Rabbi Uziel understood that shame, dishonor, and the emotional trauma it might cause constitute a legitimate reason to terminate a pregnancy.

Some consider topics like this to be political, since this has—especially in our country—become a charged, partisan topic. But make no mistake: Long before this republic came into being, our sages and legal authorities were asking these questions. They were discussing the religious and spiritual dimensions of the beginning of life, the status of an embryo and a fetus, and the right of a woman to make decisions regarding her own body. Of course, it is worth pointing out that during those times, the sages and legal authorities opining were all men.

As a man who supports the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and as a Jew who takes the halakhic process seriously, I wish to express the deep gratitude I feel to live in a time when, at long last, the voices of female scholars are included—and, for me, privileged—in this conversation.

To learn more about this important issue, join Rabbi Sari and me tomorrow morning for our “Spirit of Shabbat” class where we will focus on texts relating to those verses from Parashat Mishpatim.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Yoshi