NCJWA backs Irish vote on abortion
The National Council of Jewish Women of Australia published its support to the Irish referendum vote on abortion.
An overwhelming majority of people in the Irish Republic voted to change the current restrictive 8thAmendment in the Irish constitution that gave the unborn child equal right to life with mothers, meaning that abortion was virtually illegal in Ireland except in the most extreme circumstances.
The International Council of Jewish Women is meeting in Sydney from 27-31 May 2018 to attend its Quadrennial Convention Evolving Beyond Tradition – the Impact of Women’s Perspectives and Developing Roles.
The NCJWA took this opportunity to release this statement: “The National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA) congratulates the people of Ireland on their historic vote on 25 May 2018 to repeal the 8th amendment to the country’s constitution, allowing the government to legislate for abortion.
NCJWA promotes the empowerment of women in the Jewish and wider community, and therefore supports the right of every woman to make decisions about her own healthcare.
NCJWA looks forward to the Irish government fulfilling its pledge to enact legislation permitting abortions by the end of 2018.”
NCJWA is a Jewish women’s organisation committed to social justice and women’s issues and a representative voice to key national and international organisations. At national level and through our six Sections around Australia we work to advance the status of women, counter discrimination, build a harmonious multicultural society and support Israel.
Ireland have gone from one extreme to the other on this issue. Neither extreme is the Jewish approach. Not quite sure why NCJW of Australa have got involved here.
I am a single man and like it that way, but if a heterosexual couples dont want children done breed them or use a condom.
Humans are animals but they are not dogs. Dogs are contently roaming the street looking for a bitch (female dog) to mate with.
With humans, bed hopping is a problem, with 50% of marriages failing in most 1st world nations, including Australia and New Zealand.
Ireland’s old law on abortion was the Catholic position which gives the unborn child equal right to life with the mother. This position, Judaism does not share.
Where it is a matter of either/or the mother’s life – and her physical/psychological/emotional health – comes first. Therefore the demise of that law should not be mourned.
However the vote has now taken matters to the other extremne of abortion-by-choice which Judaism also does not endorse. By what criteria has NCJW come out in support? As a Jewish organisaton, they ought to at least have kept silent. Why was it necessary to have made a statement at all about a vote in a faraway country? It is regrettable that NCJW has such little respect for Jewish moral and ethical teaching as enshrined in the Torah.