Forty-five years ago today, the United States Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, affirmed that a woman’s right to an abortion was protected by the U.S. Constitution. The decision gave total autonomy to women to terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester, and prevented states from interfering in that right. But — and this is…
In a recent piece entitled “Why are Orthodox Organizations Embracing Christian Values?” Rabbi Jill Jacobs attacked Orthodox Jews for opposing the Obama Administration’s now-rescinded health insurance mandate, which required employers to provide or be complicit in providing some abortion-inducing drugs and sterilizations. She incorrectly suggested that this position conflicts with Jewish law, suggesting that these…
Many Jewish groups criticized the Trump administration’s decision last week to allow more entities to deny offering contraception in their health care plans on religious grounds—but Orthodox Jewish groups are praising the move. The Orthodox Union issued a statement on Monday welcoming the memorandum from the Department of Health and Human Services, which undid some…
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Amy Coney Barrett took what critics feel was an anti-Catholic undertone when Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator in California, questioned the nominee’s “dogma.” Feinstein sharply quizzed Barrett, who was nominated by President Trump to serve on a federal appeals court. “The dogma lives loudly within you,” Feinstein said. “And…
In June, Missouri’s state legislators were called back to Jefferson City for a special session. Such a move is rare, and Gov. Eric Greitens did it to try to push through legislation significantly limiting access of women in the state to abortions. Other red states have passed similar laws. But the one Greitens wants, which…
In Texas, it may soon be required for women who have received an abortion to bury or cremate the fetal tissue. In Missouri, Gov. Eric Greitens is seeking to overturn a recently passed St. Louis ordinance that bans employers and landlords from discriminating against women who have had an abortion, used contraceptives or are pregnant….
(JTA) — Simone Veil, a well-known French politician and Holocaust survivor, died at the age of 89. Veil, a scholar, former judge, feminist activist and former minister of health who in 2012 was awarded France’s highest honor, passed away this week in her home in Paris, her family told the media in France Friday. Veil,…
When Abraham Cahan was editor of the Forward from its founding in 1897 and for much of the next 50 years, he could leave the newspaper offices on 175 East Broadway, wind his way through the crowded streets of the Lower East Side, pass by schools and synagogues and shops, and literally touch his readers….
