Michigan’s Jews are raising money and volunteering for organizations that work to protect reproductive freedom.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court draft decision was leaked earlier this month, forecasting its intentions to overturn Roe v Wade, Michigan women are concerned a 1931 law on the Michigan books would immediately go into effect, essentially illegalizing abortion in the state, reversing a 50-year precedent of women’s rights for 2.2 million women of childbearing age in the state. This law states that any doctor performing an abortion could be prosecuted, even in cases of rape or incest.
Although Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, in a May 8 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, said if she remains in office, she will not prosecute any cases that would come up as a result of this law, she said she could not prevent the state’s 83 elected county prosecutors from doing so.
Nessel also said that as a worst-case scenario, even performing a dilation and curettage (D&C) for a woman experiencing a miscarriage or if a fetus dies in utero could be considered criminally liable for physicians.
“What’s going to happen is doctors will be so afraid of being investigated for performing these procedures, even when there is no longer any [fetal] viability because it’s the same procedure that you might perform for an abortion … It will have a chilling effect, and women will not have basic medical health care,” Nessel said. “Doctors simply are not going to perform those procedures anymore because they don’t want to go to prison for it.”
The possibility of living in such draconian conditions is energizing many in the state’s Jewish community to attempt to secure women’s reproductive rights in Michigan by working to add an amendment to the state Constitution through the Reproductive Freedom for All ballot initiative.
In addition to safeguarding the legality of attaining and performing abortions in Michigan, the proposed initiative, if it makes it to the November ballot and passes in the election, would include protections for use of birth control, safe birthing care, and medical procedures associated with miscarriages and stillbirths. Because the initiative would amend Article I of the Michigan Constitution, its backers would need to collect 425,059 valid signatures by this summer from Michigan voters to place the measure on the ballot.
Members of the Jewish Community Mobilize
Michigan’s Jews are raising money and volunteering for organizations that work to protect reproductive freedom.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of Detroit’s Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, said that defending a woman’s right to choose is a strong Jewish value. He said his organization is playing a supportive role to Jewish organizations such as Hadassah and the National Council of Jewish Women. He especially emphasized the organization’s partnership with the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, as the elimination of abortion rights will fall most heavily on communities of color.
“Many women in this community do not have the resources to travel out of state to get an abortion,” Lopatin explained. “We will become active in a supportive role for the Black community through our social justice committee.”
As an Orthodox rabbi, Lopatin cautioned his community should be wary of anti-abortion laws. “Defending the right of a woman to choose is a Jewish value and a moral value,” Lopatin said. “Also, this country has a separation of church and state, so this is a matter of religious freedom.”
The National Council of Jewish Women in Michigan has been actively involved in getting the initiative on the ballot since it was drafted in early 2022.
“At NJCW, our mission is to improve the lives of women, children and families,” said Linda Levy, NCJW of Greater Detroit co-state policy advocate. “This is an issue that touches each of these points. Many of these decisions on abortion affect families, and they are often made in conjunction with a family setting.”
Levy, 69, of Farmington Hills, said NCJW delegates have been instrumental in the formation and mobilization of the initiative, which was crafted by Reproductive Freedom, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. It sent delegates to Lansing in January 2022 to testify in support of the summary wording of the initiative.
“For younger women, I think there was this feeling that this could never happen,” Levy said. “There was a fear [the court] would merely chip away at Roe, but this [leaked] draft opinion shows that there’s an intention to eliminate it. So that has mobilized a lot of young people and people of all ages. The [1931] law is a throwback to a much earlier time in our country and would take away the many freedoms that women have taken for granted, such as having the same freedoms as men when it comes to making decisions about our healthcare.”
Hadassah is also activating its constituents, according to Hadassah of Greater Detroit President Mandy Garver.
“Hadassah has always unequivocally stood for a woman’s reproductive rights,” Garver said. “We believe that women must be able to continue to make critical healthcare decisions for themselves and for their families based on a person’s own values and on medical guidance. We are asking people to become public champions for reproductive rights by talking with friends, family and neighbors, and above all contact their state House representatives as well as their representatives in Congress to let them know as voters where we stand on this issue.”
Members of Detroit Jews for Justice also fear what the reversal may eventually mean for gay rights.
“There is a real risk that Obergefell v Hodges, the case which protected same-sex marriage, will also be overturned,” said Elijah Silver, DJJ organizer for campaigns and education. “If this happens, a 2004 amendment to the Michigan Constitution will go back into effect, which would ban all forms of same-sex marriage in the state. Other rulings that are at risk include Lawrence v Texas, which protects all forms of sexual acts between consenting adults, and Griswold v. Connecticut, which protects access to birth control.”
Planned Parenthood volunteer and board member Diane Orley attended a Detroit fundraiser on the evening of May 10, where she and 240 donors secured $225,000 to support the organization’s in-state clinics.
Orley, 62, of Birmingham, fears that the assault on personal liberties will continue unless Michigan can get its legislature back to an ideological center.
“The only way to get our legislature back in the center is to keep money out of politics and change how elections/nominations occur. Sadly, I don’t see it happening in our lifetime,” she said.