Knesset Approves Abortion Bill

The Knesset passed the controversial abortion bill on its third reading yesterday. The infuriated Orthodox religious establishment branded it “murder” and vowed to overturn it. Feminists in the Knesset said, however, that the new law did not go far enough because it still does not give women the right to abortion on demand.

The measure legalizes abortion in the early stages of pregnancy if approved by a committee of three which must consist of two doctors–one a gynecologist–and a social worker. Abortions will be obtainable if the committee determines that birth would injure the physical or emotional health of the mother, that the child would be born with physical or mental handicaps, and if the mother is under 16 or over 40.

Shortly after its passage, three Aguda bloo MKs introduced private member bills aimed at rescinding the law. Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren inveighed against the Knesset for enacting a law contrary to Biblical law and “basic Jewish morals.” Goren demanded that the law be abolished because it has “no moral validity.” Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef claimed the law “permitted murder” and must be cancelled.

But MK Marsha Freedman said the law was defective because “doctors are still in charge of a woman’s own womb and she cannot decide for herself.” The situation in Israel with respect to abortion is similar to that in many Western countries where abortion was, or still is, illegal. Termination of pregnancy is available to affluent women but not to the poor. The rate of abortion in Israel until now has been estimated at 40,000-70,000 a year. Doctors who performed abortions were rarely, if ever, prosecuted.

Israel’s abortion law was bitterly opposed not only by religious elements but by conservative elements generally. The measure adopted yesterday was passed by a show of hands in the Knesset when many religious MKs and other opponents were absent. They were outside the Knesset building at the time participating in an anti-abortion demonstration.