LIFE ISN'T WELFARE?:

Think Again: Reform Judaism pushes deformed 'rights' (Jonathan Rosenblum, 4/07/05, THE JERUSALEM POST)

American labor organizer Saul Alinsky used to say "immoral enemies make stupid mistakes" - usually by revealing their true nature.

A recent High Court of Justice petition by the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal and public arm of the Movement of Progressive Judaism in Israel, proves Alinsky's dictum. The petition singles out Efrat, an organization devoted to reducing abortion in the Jewish sector, as unfit to receive national service volunteers.

Last year Efrat provided assistance to over 1,400 women, the vast majority of them married, who had been contemplating abortion for socioeconomic reasons. Referrals to Efrat come almost entirely from social workers and friends of the women in question. Initial discussions with those women are handled by one of Efrat's 3,000 volunteers (many of whom are past beneficiaries of its services) and a professional social worker.

IRAC declares that "involvement in preventing abortions in the Jewish sector cannot be recognized as an appropriate welfare issue." (One of the IRAC attorneys told Shofar News that IRAC would not have objected if the group also provided assistance to Arab women.) Yet, as Professor Amnon Rubinstein wrote recently, "without a Jewish majority, there is no Israel." If Israel can encourage that majority through the Law of Return, surely it can also provide indirect aid to an organization devoted to combating the demographic threat to Israel by reducing Jewish abortions.

Providing pregnant women with information about financial assistance and emotional support available to them, according to IRAC, violates their basic rights to human dignity, privacy, and freedom of conscience.

Lord, save us from the Progressive.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2005 2:21 PM