Fresh Updates from RAC

At the beginning of 2012 I wrote on RACblog: “As we move into the 2012 election year, the war on women has become more extreme and effective.” Not only did this prove to be true (it’s hard to forget the offensive rhetoric spewed by so many candidates across the country in 2012 elections), but states have continued to pass laws since then, which have stripped women of their right to choose when, how and if to have a family, or have created socioeconomically-based barriers that restrict access to reproductive health services.

That’s why Morgan Meneses-Sheets’s piece in Truthout (the program manager for Reproductive Health Technologies Project – a strong partner with the RAC on our reproductive justice initiatives) really struck a chord with me.

Before you read on, keep in mind how wholly our reproductive rights advocacy efforts are informed by our Jewish values. While it often feels as though the Religious Right has a monopoly on the faith-based perspective on reproductive rights, this doesn’t need to be the case. In the Mishnah we read, “If a woman’s labor becomes life threatening, the one to be born is dismembered in her abdomen…for her life comes before the life of the fetus.” From this and other Talmudic passages we learn that, while all life is sacred, the life of a mother has more value than the life of an unborn fetus. Additionally, when considering the health of the mother, we consider her physical, spiritual and emotional health – her body and her nefesh (soul). Abortion is a deeply personal issue, and the decision of when life begins is often a religious one.

Check out Morgan’s piece here, or read it below:

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This blog originally appeared on the WRJ blog.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the case Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics. This case has received national attention in large part due to the extremely personal issues being addressed by the court. In particular, this case attempts to grapple with the question “can one patent a part of the human body?”

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In this period between Passover and Shavuot, we remember what it was like for the Jews to wander in the desert after being freed from Egypt. Forty days must have felt like quite a long time for these Israelites – though it was admittedly nothing compared to the 40 years that their descendants would have to spend traipsing through the Sinai before being let into the land of Israel. Now, this may be projecting, but most of us probably don’t do much physical desert-wandering these days. However, many of our daily (or weekly, or yearly) tasks can sometimes feel as futile and drawn-out as the trek through Egypt.

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Earlier today, Judge Edward Korman of the Federal District Court ruled that Plan B, the most common form of emergency contraception, must be made available over the counter for women of all ages, including girls 16 and younger who have previously been required to have a prescription. This decision supports an FDA recommendation made to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to make the morning-after pill available for all ages – a recommendation that was overruled by the Secretary in 2011 (the first time that someone in her position had ever overruled an FDA recommendation).

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Last week, we began the seven week-long process of counting the omer – a ritual in which we count every day from Pesach, when the Israelites were freed from Egypt, to Shavuot, when the Israelites received the Torah. There are many reasons for and interpretations of the omer, but in a lot of ways, it really comes down to the passage of time, and how we count and notice time in our own lives.

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A Jew, a Unitarian Universalist and a Catholic answer questions about abortion. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but in fact, is an apt summary of a briefing for Capitol Hill staffers held earlier this week where RAC Deputy Director Rachel Laser spoke. The briefing was entitled “Faith Support for Reproductive Health and Justice,” and featured speakers from RAC partners Catholics for Choice, National Council of Jewish Women, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and Unitarian Universalist Association. Leaders from all of these communities spoke to recently hired Congressional office staff about ways in which the progressive faith community can participate in reproductive justice advocacy efforts, and why we – as people of faith – believe so strongly in a woman’s ability to make choices about her own body.

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This past weekend, I spent a few days visiting my alma mater. As I walked around campus, I saw familiar places and faces – I ate at my old favorite restaurants and caught up with friends. What I wasn’t thinking about while walking around campus was that 20% to 25% of college women have experienced rape or attempted rape during their college years. What I wasn’t thinking about was that at a school the size of my 5,000 undergrad student school, statistics would predict that almost 200 rapes would occur annually. What I wasn’t thinking about was that women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence, at a rate almost triple the national average.

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