A bill to protect observant Jews in California against autopsies and other Jewishly-unacceptable post-mortem procedures has been signed into law by Governor George Deukmejian of California, becoming the third such law in the United States, Agudath Israel of America reported here. The first state was New York and the second New Jersey.
The California law establishes procedures where by persons 18 years of age or older can execute a “certificate of religious belief,” stating their religious opposition to post-mortem procedures.
If, upon such a person’s death, a relative or friend notifies the coroner for the area that the dead person had executed a certificate of religious opposition, and produces the certificate within 48 hours after informing the coroner, the coroner may not perform the post-mortem procedure.
Exceptions applying in the three states permit the medical examiner to proceed with an autopsy if there is suspected or known homicide, or a suspected or known public health hazard, such as a communicable disease.
BROAD RANGE SUPPORT
Dr. Irving Lebovies and Stanley Streitel, co-chair-men of the Los Angeles Agudath Israel Commission on Law and Civic Action, described as instrumental in drafting the measure and directing efforts for its passage in the California Legislature, had the support of a broad range of Jewish organizations, including Orthodox congregations, Jewish Federations in California, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, and the California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
David Zweibel, Agudath Israel’s government affairs director, said the new law was “an important first step” which would, “in large part, redress the law’s insufficient sensitivity to the constitutional rights of citizens whose religious principles forbid post-mortem procedures in the absence of extraordinary circumstances.”
But, Zweibel added, the California law does not afford the same degree of protection to observant Jews as do the laws in New York and New Jersey, which ban performance of autopsies even if the dead person had not signed a “certificate of religious belief” and which apply to observant Jews under the age of 18. He said, the California law, despite its shortcomings, represented “a major breakthrough” for what he called the growing Orthodox Jewish community on the west coast.
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