Nadene Goldfoot
Roe vs Wade is the talk of the town today, the subject of THE VIEW on ABC TV this morning. The question is, how many abortions have been performed in the USA each year? What are we talking about? Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
Roe v. Wade, a 1973 Supreme Court decision that has made abortion legal in all states up to the point when the fetus can live outside the womb (generally thought to be around 24 weeks), has been overturned in 2022 according to a leak. It existed for 49 years.
With Nearly 250,000 Signatures, Pro-Life Leaders and Women Hurt by Abortion Call on the Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
Now, “the people” and our elected representatives
will be allowed to enact whatever new abortion bills as can
be passed and signed into law. Warning: Results may vary.
Principle Based Politics believes there may be a better way
than future state-by-state battles in Mississippi, California,
Texas, New York, Minnesota, and everywhere else.
Abortion already has sucked much of the life out of politics in
our country. The “pro-choice” versus “pro-life” divide is a
major cause of American polarization, partisanship, and
extremism. It does not need to be like this.
The CDC (center of disease control and prevention) defines the abortion ratio as the number of abortions per 1,000 live births, and the Guttmacher Institute defines it as the number of abortions per 100 pregnancies ending in an abortion or a live birth. Abortions later in pregnancy occur in circumstances where the life or health of the pregnant person is at risk and/or the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. According to an analysis conducted by the CDC in 2015, abortions after 24 weeks comprise less than 1% of all abortions in the United States.
Independent clinics provide 60% of abortions in the United States while Planned Parenthood provides 35% of abortions in the United States.
Abortion data for the ten most recent years from 2010 to 2019 range from 2010s 765,761 abortions ---down to 2019s 629,898 abortions. . The number of abortions is the number reported in 47 states and the District of Columbia, excluding California, Maryland, and New Hampshire.
2010s abortion rate of 14.6 is the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age and the abortion ratio of 228 is the number of abortions per 1,000 live births. All these numbers rose slightly in 2018.
In order to avoid going through an abortion, I've checked into what my religion, Judaism, says about birth control. Jews only make up 2.4% of the US population, with our 7.6 million, so I'd dare say that we make up the least of those wanting abortions.
The methods of contraception allowed under Jewish law
are those that do not damage the sperm or stop it getting to its
intended destination. These are the contraceptive pill and the IUD.
We have different levels of understanding in Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed and within this scope, levels within each could be found under different rabbis.
Contraception, including artificial contraception, is permitted in Judaism in appropriate circumstances.
Reform and Liberal schools of Judaism allow birth control for a wide range of reason. Orthodox Judaism is more restrictive.
The religious view on birth control is based on two principles:
- it is a commandment to marry and have children
- it is forbidden to 'waste seed' (to emit semen while at the same time preventing conception)
The modern Orthodox position permits the use of contraception in these cases:
- when pregnancy or childbirth might harm the mother
- to limit the number of children in a family for the benefit of the family
- to delay or space out having children
- but a married couple should not use contraception for the selfish reason of avoiding having children altogether.
Methods
The female birth control pill is favoured by Jewish couples because male birth control methods are frowned on. This is because they 'waste seed' and because the commandment to have children is primarily directed at men.
Condoms are particularly unacceptable because they block the passage of semen, and because they reduce the pleasure husband and wife get from sex and so interfere with one of the natural purposes of intercourse.
Rabbis disagree about the use of the diaphragm - some forbid it because it blocks the passage of semen, while others state that it is not forbidden because the semen enters the woman's body in a normal manner.
A birth control method that led to breakthrough bleeding would be a concern for Orthodox Jews as sex is not permitted in the presence of blood. Therefore, during a woman's menstral period, she does not become involved in sex. This affects some types of pill and some IUDs.
Contraception and the Talmud
Judaism has had a largely positive attitude to sex since God commanded his people to 'be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis I:28; 9:1). Christianity's suspicions of sex as an element of 'the fall' are absent.
The repeated command to have children looks like an order from God for the Jews not to use birth control, but early rabbis explained that this was a limited command, and that once a couple had produced a family of reasonable size (2 sons, or a son and a daughter, depending on which rabbi you follow) they were free to avoid having further children.
Whether abstinence or artificial contraception should be used was another problem for the early rabbis. The more orthodox taught that anything that involved wasting seed (i.e. where semen was prevented from fertilizing an egg) was wrong.
A passage in the Talmud called "The Beraita of the Three Women" is the basis for much Jewish teaching on contraception.
It states that a woman may use a "moch" (a contraceptive device) in three circumstances where a pregnancy would cause harm:
- the woman is underage
- the woman is pregnant
- the woman is still breast-feeding
- During the 1950s, a diaphram was used. Now, I hear that not all women can accept this as it may cause harmful effects.
- Today's women have alternatives besides the diaphram. There is the Kyleena.
Kyleena is over 99% effective at preventing pregnancy for each year of use, and 98.6% effective over 5 years
That means less than 1 pregnancy per 100 women in a year, and less than 2 pregnancies per 100 women over 5 years.
In a study of over 4,500 women around the world, including 500 women in the United States aged 21–29 years who take a daily birth control pill, 82% of US women reported* forgetting to take it at least once in the past 12 months.Other Talmudic passages permit women to drink potions that make them infertile, and this doctrine is now used to permit the use of the birth control pill.
There is a type of diaphram, an IUD inserted by a
doctor that takes little care. One example is
Paragard. Paragard is a small IUD (intrauterine device) that
uses just 1 simple active ingredient to prevent pregnancy over 99% of the time. It’s placed in your uterus by a healthcare provider
during a routine office visit to prevent pregnancy for as short or long as you want—up to 10 years.
- Ethnicity
Abortion rates tend to be higher among minority women in the U.S. In 2000–2001 the rates among black and Hispanic women were 49 per 1,000 and 33 per 1,000, respectively, vs. 13 per 1,000 among non-Hispanic white women. Note that this figure includes all women of reproductive age, including women that are not pregnant. In other words, these abortion rates reflect the rate at which U.S. women of reproductive age have an abortion each year. The demographics of Hispanic and Latino Americans depict a population that is the second-largest ethnic group in the United States, 62 million people or 18.7% of the national population. Blacks make up 13.4% of the USA population.
Religion
A study by the National Institute of Health in the United States found that of the Obstetrician-Gynecologists that provide abortions, more identified as Protestant than Catholic. The Guttmacher report of 1987 found Protestants accounted for 41.9% of abortions while Catholics accounted for 31.5%. The Guttmacher report of 1994 found Protestants accounted for 37% of abortions while Catholics accounted for 31%. The Guttmacher report of 2000 found Protestants accounted for 43% of abortions while Catholics accounted for 27%. The Guttmacher report of 2014 found Protestants accounted for 30% of abortions while Catholics accounted for 24%.
This is because Catholics (are more orthodox) do not believe in birth control and Protestants (more reformed) allow it. It stands to reason this would show up in statistics.
We Jews were not in the running.
Paying For Abortions:
.jpg%20one%20million%20dollars.jpg)
As of 2021, 16 states use their own state funds to pay for elective abortions and similar services, exceeding federal requirements.
Consequently, the cutoff of federal Medicaid funds prompted some states to provide public funding for abortion services from their own coffers.
$15 million for expanded abortion care in Oregon will take months to distribute
- The organizations feel added urgency to act after the disclosure Monday of a draft U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would repeal the federal right to an abortion.
Passed by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment excludes abortion from the comprehensive health care services provided to low-income people by the federal government through Medicaid. Congress has made some exceptions to the funding ban, which have varied over the years. At present, the federal Medicaid program mandates abortion funding in cases of rape or incest, as well as when a pregnant woman's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury.
Resource
https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/jewishethics/contraception.shtml#:~:text=Rabbis%20disagree%20about%20the%20use,body%20in%20a%20normal%20manner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_statistics_in_the_United_Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Jews#:~:text=As%20of%202020%2C%20the%20core,and%201.6%20million%20Jewish%20children.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-tennessee-and-north-mississippi/talking-about-abortion/abortion-myths-faqs
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/briefs/15-million-for-expanded-abortion-care-in-oregon-will-take-months-to-distribute/
.jpg%20one%20million%20dollars.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment