The Ghoulish Death Cult

 I am bringing an interesting article today to gentle readers, who, I suspect are like myself, more intellectually involved in issues like abortion, and less emotionally involved.  The use of the intellect over the emotion is an important Christian concept.  God gave man the ability to reason for a reason.  Man is to use his reasoning ability to survive in the world.  Notoriously, we do not have natural weapons, like the speed of the deer, or sharp claws like the lion, or great physical power like the bear.  What we do have is our wits.

The article comes from the American Thinker today by Rabbi Michael Barclay entitled Abortion: A Jewish Perspective on a Passionate Issue. Of course, we all know the story of the binding of Issaac, Abraham's only son, and the sole guarantor of God's promise to Abraham. It was a test of Abraham's loyalty. But it was also to show the future Israelites that God did not condone child sacrifice, as the cultures around them did. This has been taken by faithful Christians to mean that abortion under all circumstances is not permitted. Yet the Jews did allow abortions in certain rare cases, and the reasons are enlightening.

In Judaism, there is a huge importance placed on pro-creation, based on the blessing found in Genesis 1:28 that we “should be fruitful and multiply” that is repeated to Jacob (Gen 35:11). But we also believe that sexuality is not only for pro-creation, but for pleasure based upon the words of Exodus 21:10, “a man must not diminish his wife’s duty of marriage”. It is accepted as far back as 2000 years ago that the obligation to pro-create is upon the man (the commandment is given to men), and not to women.

“The man is required to be fruitful and multiple, but not the woman.” (Mishna Yevamot 6:6). This is a recognition of a woman’s rights, and a man’s responsibility. It is her body, and she should not be forced to make a decision between having children or being celibate. In Judaism, while there is a commandment for pro-creation, there is also a commandment for pleasure, and so no argument can be devised against or for abortion based on human sexuality being used only for the purpose of creation (this is different than many other faiths).

So, we see that a man may not withhold his seed from his wife (that is the true sin on Onan) but can not force himself upon her either. Women do have rights! Thus the "Handmaids Tale" uniforms are for those uninformed atheists. They have no place in Christian life. (Also note the distinction with Islam, where the women have no rights.) But let's read on.

The traditional set of laws regarding abortion begin with the legal status of the fetus. The Talmud clearly states, “the fetus is regarded as one of the limbs of the mother” (Gittin 23b). This understanding is based on specific biblical understandings. If an animal is bought, and then found to be pregnant, the future animal belongs to the new owner. (Talmud Bava Kama 78a). If a pregnant woman converts, her child does not have to go through conversion upon birth (Talmud Yevamot 78a), and a fetus has no rights of acquisition (Talmud Bava Batra 142a). Most importantly, it says in Exodus 21:22 that if a pregnant woman is hurt by a man so that her unborn baby dies, the man is to be punished by paying “what the judges determine”; but if that she dies then the perpetrator is executed. The death of a fetus is a tort charge, punishable by monetary relief; while the death of a mother is a capital crime. This biblical text demonstrates that killing a fetus is criminal, although not a capital crime.

At first glance, it might seem that since the fetus has no legal rights, abortion would be allowed in any instance. This is not the case.

From the time of ancient Sages through the Middle Ages until today, it is a Jewish law that a person has no right to inflict damage upon the human body, even upon himself. We are responsible for every part of our body as a Divine gift. Based on this understanding, since the fetus is considered a “limb” of the mother; abortion by choice is forbidden because it is equivalent to hurting one’s self.

Please read the whole article. It is enlightening. And note that damaging the Divine Image is the basis of the Commandment against murder and other sins described in the Jewish law.  But the bottom line is that Jewish law does allow abortions for the cases where bearing the child to full term would cause the mother great physical harm or death. They even allow it for extreme psychological reasons such as rape and incest. Interestingly, such are the carve outs being proposed in states that generally ban abortion.

One of the most interesting discussions bears upon the "secrets of God" where the ancient Jews tried to decide at what point ensoulment takes place. This is akin to current arguments about when a fetus becomes human. The argument that from the moment of conception it can not be anything other than human is based on the obvious (I hope) fact that a man and a woman can not bear anything else. Biology doesn't work that way. Still, others see a fetus as a lump of cells, and nothing more. To me, the fetal heart beat laws are a good compromise. These laws do not permit abortion after around 12 weeks, when a heart can be detected beating in the growing child. Yet even these laws allow for abortion under very limited reasons, dealing with the life of the mother, and rape or incest.

The current crying and gnashing of teeth over the overturning of a poorly decided opinion has torn the mask off of people who have attempted to be seen as compassionate and caring. But they have proved themselves instead to be a ghoulish death cult.  It doesn't end abortion, but instead returns it to the states where it rightly belongs, and to the voters of each state, whose collective conscience should have been consulted.