Professor Michael Helfand Presents "A History of Jewish Religious Liberty Advocacy for Abortion Rights" -- Harvard Law School

Professor Michael A. Helfand presented "A History of Jewish Religious Liberty Advocacy for Abortion Rights" for the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School. Professor Helfand participated as a panelist for the colloquium "Abortion and Jewish Law."

From Harvard Law School:

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Jewish plaintiffs in multiple U.S. states have brought religious liberty-based legal challenges to restrictive state-wide bans on abortion. Plaintiffs argue that these bans violate their religious rights as Jews because they are grounded in the belief that life begins at conception, a belief informed by a particular reading of Christian doctrine, not a Jewish one.   

Jewish law contains multiple interpretations of when life begins. Many argue it permits or even requires access to abortion depending on the circumstances and that any attempt to infringe on their Jewish religious beliefs is a violation of the right to freedom of religion. 

In this colloquium, we gathered a range of religious and legal experts to look at the history of Jewish involvement in abortion legal matters, delve into traditional Talmudic understandings of fetal personhood and consider them in the context of the post-Dobbs era and contemporary Supreme Court trends.

Additional information may be found at Harvard Law