NY Jewish Week: Abortion Animating Jewish Activists As 2020 Looms

“Last year, with the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, it was something that came front and center for people, just knowing that there would be a Supreme Court justice who may seek to overturn Roe v. Wade,” said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

Within the Jewish community, a pro-choice attitude has long been dominant. According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, 83 percent of Jewish Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The only other religious groups surveyed that believe that abortion should be legal in higher numbers are Unitarian Universalists, atheists and agnostics. “There’s no question that the Jewish community is outraged and deeply concerned by this growing trend around our country of denying rights of women at the state level,” said Soifer.

“For an entire generation of women, we’ve never had to fight for these freedoms because it was something that past generations had fought for, so I do think that for younger women especially this has been a wake up call,” said Soifer.

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