Standing up For Choice: Parashat Nitzavim and the Anti-choice Law in Texas

Shabbat shalom!  

I want to begin tonight by sharing a story that many of you know already – it has been widely shared in a video that Sue and I made in opposition to last year’s ballot initiative, Proposition 115 – which was a thinly-veiled attempt to prevent women in Colorado from choosing the type of health care and reproductive resources available to those in need. (Here is the video: https://youtu.be/CyJikIzTTAo)

When Sue and I decided to get married 33 years ago, we looked forward to raising our children in a home filled with love and Jewish tradition.   As a rabbi, I had worked with many couples in preparation for marriage and I knew that since both of us were Ashkenzi (East European) Jews, there was a slight possibility that one or both of us might carry the gene for Tay-Sachs – a rare, incurable genetic disorder that results in a painful death within five years of birth.  When I mentioned to Sue that one of us should be tested for Tay Sachs, she told me “Oh – I was tested when I was in College.  I think I am a carrier – but you’re probably not.”  Imagine my surprise when I found out that I, too was positive.  Our genetic counselor explained that, even though both of us were carriers, we still could have healthy children.  With each pregnancy, there was a 25% chance that we would conceive an embryo that would be infected with the disease.  We knew that every time Sue would get pregnant, we would have to undergo genetic testing of the fetus .  We were willing to take the risk and thankfully, 30 years ago we were blessed by the birth of our daughter, Elana.  The weeks leading up to and following the testing were very difficult.  Our fears that we would have to terminate this pregnancy that we so desperately wanted to bring to full term were palpable.  Thankfully, she was a healthy baby.  Our luck changed with our second pregnancy, however.  To hear from our doctor that the embryo that we so desperately wanted to bring to term had a fatal disease was devastating.  Thankfully, at that time, abortion was legal and safe.  As difficult as it was to say goodbye to the hopes and dreams of a second child, the thought of having to care for and bury a suffering child was unbearable.  Termination of the pregnancy was the obvious choice. Sue received excellent care and together we grieved the loss of what might have been.

Three years after the birth of our first child, Elana, we were blessed with a son, Ethan.  Both of our children are healthy.  In 5 weeks, Sue and I will stand under the Chuppah as Elana marries our beloved future son-in-law Greg and, God willing, when they are ready to have children of their own, we hope that they will not have to face the same type of painful choice. Tonight, however, I am worried that their choices may be limited or destroyed.

You see, tonight, in the aftermath of the passage and the Supreme Court’s Cowardly refusal to disavow the disastrous Texas law -Senate Bill 8, the future of a woman’s right to make her own choices about reproduction and health care are in grave danger.

This law, recently enacted by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Abbot – is a travesty and a tragedy for women’s rights and reproductive freedom – not only in Texas, but anywhere that anti-choice activists hold sway of state legislators – since it was upheld by the United States Supreme Court and is perceived as a green light by anti-choice advocates around the country. The Texas law not only criminalizes all abortions after 6 weeks, but also makes it possible for anyone who helped women obtain the termination of a pregnancy liable for lawsuits:  from doctors and medical professionals, to Uber drivers, support staff at health centers and anyone who is remotely connected to the process. Radical anti-Choice advocates now have the power to sue whomever they want – thereby creating a network of spies and informants akin to the worst fantasies of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian tour de force, The Handmaid’s Tale.

In the Torah Portion for this Shabbat, Nitzavim – a parasha that is very familiar to us because we, in the Reform Movement also read it on Yom Kippur, we find the following stirring words:

הַעִידֹ֨תִי בָכֶ֣ם הַיּוֹם֮ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ֒ הַחַיִּ֤ים וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙ בַּֽחַיִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן תִּחְיֶ֖ה אַתָּ֥ה וְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live! (Deuteronomy 30:19)

The words, “choose life” are quite powerful.  But they also can be spun and defined in a variety of ways. They can used to motivate us to live to our highest potential – choosing God’s loftiest ideals for our daily living and the choices we make, or they can be used as a weapon to narrowly define an agenda of intolerance.

For the authors of the Texas law – and other laws like it that are germinating around the country - those who would impose their fundamentalist and draconian definition of when life begins, “Choosing Life” means that the government has both the ability and responsibility to legislate women’s bodies without regard to personal freedom, physical or mental health, abuse, rape, or economic hardship.

For me – the words, “Choose Life” mean that as humans blessed with the precious gift of life, we have a responsibility to live our lives in ways that affirm the highest aspirations of humanity.  It means that we are tasked to do all that we can to show honor to God’s creation and to work together to create communities that both respect the choices and afford us the empathy to understand the difficulties faced by everyone with whom we share our lives. It does not mean imposing our narrow understandings of life’s questions, traumas and values on others – nor does it disavow us from disagreeing on the many complex paradoxes with which we are confronted on a daily basis. While there are clear moral and ethical boundaries that are essential for the creation of a safe and just society, there are also many areas that are too diffuse to be able to concretize clear rules that are applicable in every case. The passions that inflame anti-Abortion advocates cross the line of healthy disagreement and enter dangerous authoritarian oppression of some of the most vulnerable in our midst.

When Sue and I recorded our video in opposition to Proposition 115 last year, we received many emails and letters of support.  People praised us for our bravery and our willingness to tell our story on behalf of all those who are on the front lines of women’s health care and reproductive freedom.  At the same time, we also received many communications and threats that called us “murderers” and evil people who deserved to burn in hell for eternity.

The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very difficult and painful.  It should never be taken lightly.  Let us be clear here: No one is “Pro-Abortion.” To choose to terminate a pregnancy for any reason is traumatic. And yet, I also feel - passionately - that such a decision should be made by individual women – who may or may not choose to consult with family (whenever possible), or clergy, or counselors or even God. But we have no right to legislate such behavior.

The idea that that Government, Church, synagogue, or mosque should be placed in the position of legislating or interfering in the most intimate aspects of our lives is antithetical to the foundation of the separation of religion and state upon which our nation was founded and for which too many have died.

There are those who have struggled with the issue of abortion and, after deliberate and careful analysis – after much prayer and reflection – have come to the conclusion that they cannot support a woman’s right to choose.   While I, personally, do not agree with their conclusions, I respect their deliberation and I feel that the process of dialogue and discussion is vitally important.  We can agree to disagree- honoring the process that has brought us to our own particular conclusions.  But when these disagreements become the basis for legislation that represses and demonizes, a dangerous line has been crossed.

I am speaking tonight, because I am disgusted by the hypocrisy that we witness on a daily basis that justifies the creation of laws that, on the one hand, prohibit a woman from terminating an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, make it difficult for that same woman to receive proper healthcare, nutrition or childcare once that unwanted pregnancy comes to term.

I am speaking tonight because we all have listened to the stories of those who, not so long ago, have had to resort to desperate measures to terminate an unwanted pregnancy:

• women who were victims of rape or incest; who were emotionally, spiritually, physically or financially unable to care for an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy;
• Women who were butchered by incompetent practitioners in unsanitary conditions
• Women who were subjected to scorn and abuse and worse because they were in crisis and had nowhere else to turn.

I am speaking tonight because I am disgusted at the misogyny and gas-lighting that is the bedrock of this and other laws that attempt to silence women’s voices and marginalize their experience. The Texas law penalizes women for taking their reproductive health into their own hands. It says nothing about the responsibilities of the men who are responsible for every pregnancy.

Throughout history, demagogues have always looked for easy targets against which they could spew their fear-mongering – creating demons that represent the evils of society.  This insidious law demonstrates, once again how women   - especially poor women and women of color - have always been a favored target.  We have seen how Far Right, fundamentalist State Legislators have tried to undo decades of progress in women’s health and bring us back to a much darker time.

This law, and others like it, serve the function of shifting attention from the real issues that plague us by claiming to have a singular understanding of God’s will.  Abortionists and loose morals – these are the ills of society.  Forget about poverty, hunger, voting rights, racism, ignorance, abuse, homelessness, climate change, war, pollution (the list goes on and on) – no – those who would outlaw reproductive choice teach us that it is the women who want to make choices about how to take care of their bodies and the courageous Doctors, nurses and counselors who make that possible upon whom we should focus our attention.

My friends, the task that lies ahead of us is clear.  We – as people of faith who stand as a beacon of hope and reason in the face of darkness and disinformation – we must never waiver in our work.  No one knows the mind of God.  No one has a monopoly on faith.

In 3 days, we will be coming together to enter into a New Year – a year that will be filled with both hope and uncertainty. May the coming year, 5782, bring us the strength to address the injustices and challenges that plague us.

The title of this week’s parasha is Nitzavim – which means “Standing Tall.” When we stand together, we are strong.  Our task is to show the world that the stereotypes are wrong.  We need to tell the stories of triumph over tragedy – of how we can work together to eradicate ignorance and prejudice and, in the process of doing so, forge a unified partnership with one another and our Creator to repair our fragile and wounded world.  Soon the Shofar will be calling us to share our Truth and help others hear it as well.  We can do no less.

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah.