Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

As someone who is proud to be an Independent, I must say that the freedom of being an Independent affords me the ability to be critical of both the Democratic and Republican Parties. While I have been critical of the Democratic Middle East policies, which I believe are incredibly myopic, today I will take aim at the Republican Party.

This past week, the Republicans voted to defund Planned Parenthood—an organization that has done more to prevent unwanted pregnancies than any other organization in the country—is a move that will only cause more problems.

Who are the victims?

As usual, it is women-and poor women at that.

Parental notification laws are fine and good when there is a healthy relationship between girls and their parents. However, if the parent and child relationship is dysfunctional, e.g., the parent of a teenager may throw the child out of the house, because the child did not meet the parent’s moral standards. Or, a pregnancy may have occurred from within the home (often from incest)—confidentiality is very important in such cases. Terminating an unwanted pregnancy under such circumstances could be the most responsible thing a young woman can do given these circumstances. Ultimately, this is a privacy issue and the Republican leaders of Congress would be wise to keep their political noses out of decisions that impact a young woman’s life.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) recently introduced an amendment to eliminate to all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that the Hyde Amendment barred the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions has been in effect since 1976. As it stands, defunding the program will affect cancer screenings, birth control, Pap smears, counseling, STD treatments—are vital services that impact the lives of the poor and middle class.

This should not be viewed as a partisan issue; defunding Planned Parenthood is a very bad idea that will only cause more heartache—not to mention—a greater burden on our already struggling hospital system, which will inevitably have to shoulder the financial burden. In the end, we will all pay for the mushrooming medical costs with higher premiums.

Yes, as Benjamin Franklin correctly observed, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While the advocates for defunding Planned Parenthood claim they are concerned with cutting our national and state debt, the tonality of the conservative politicians I have listened to on the news are clearly concerned with preventing abortions any way they can-regardless of the many non-abortion services Planned Parenthood provides.

Men since the beginning of historical and mythical memory (as seen in Genesis 3) have been blaming women for the problems of the world. Sexism is arguably the Original Sin of Western civilization, and the modern permutations continue to haunt our country even today. Jewish tradition wisely teaches that women are not obligated to become pregnant since pregnancy poses many health risks that men do not have to face-but women do. In addition, there are other important ethical concerns such as not placing a “stumbling block before the blind” (Lev. 19:14). Young women who are forced because of economic reasons, will find that their lives could be dramatically effected if they are forced to bear unwanted children. Preventing pregnancy in the first place-without having to resort to abortions-via providing birth control is sensible and wise.

Many years ago, I recall when there was a debate in San Francisco about providing needles and syringes to drug users. Cities that have aggressively provided its drug users with these instruments have helped stop the spread of HIV and AIDS related infections. As of 2010, about one-fifth of the more than 36,000 AIDS cases in New York have involved intravenous drugs. An accurate estimate is probably double that, since many addicts’ deaths from tuberculosis, pneumonia and other illnesses are now being recognized as AIDS-related.

Many lives have been saved despite the fact that the city enabled some very bad behavior. Yet, when considering the greater social problems posed by a society that ignores how this disease is spread, distributing needles works.

Providing young women with the means to prevent getting pregnant is analogous in some ways to the example mentioned above because young people since the time of the sexual revolution-if not earlier-are going to continue exploring their sexuality whether parents or clergy approve or not. Teaching them how to take responsibility benefits all of society, and it could prevent much greater problems down the road.

As a side note, I want to add that the question as to when does life begin is an important ethical, theological, and social problem, Jewish law insists that each question pertaining to abortion must be weighed on a case by case basis. Abortion is permissible and is occasionally mandated only where the pregnancy, simple or multiple, poses a serious danger to the mother’s physical or mental health or constitutes a threat to her life. Because multiple pregnancies are associated with a high rate of serious maternal complications, such as preeclampsia, eclampsia, bleeding, uterine atony, and urinary tract infections, it might be permissible to destroy one or more fetuses in a multiple gestation situation to reduce or eliminate these serious risks to the mother.

Preventing people from harming themselves ought to be the ethical concern of all religious-minded and Bible believing people.

Regardless of your political party, let your congressman know that defunding Planned Parenthood is a very bad and misguided idea.