Rep. Stupak’s last-minute anti-abortion amendment to the House health bill - - supported by the direct lobbying of several Roman Catholic bishops - - could have the effect of removing abortion from the American health care system. It goes way beyond current law that ensures a woman's right to an abortion and pits the theological views of a Christian supremacist minority against the religious beliefs and practices of Americans with many different beliefs.

Jewish tradition values life. The spiritual importance of parenting well is central to the life of pious Jews. Nevertheless, abortion is neither forbidden nor is it regarded as murder in Judaism. We believe a fetus does not achieve the status of “a human person” until it leaves the womb and it takes a breath.

Exodus 21:22-23 discusses a situation in which two men are fighting. During the fight, one of the men accidentally hits a pregnant woman. The Torah says that if the woman is killed, “a nefesh shall be given for a nefesh (a life shall be given for a life).” The man who struck her is considered a murderer. He is punished accordingly. If, however, the woman miscarries but does not die, the man must pay monetary damages. He is not accused of murder because a fetus is not considered a nefesh, a human being.

The Mishnah, the foundational work of Rabbinic law, teaches: “If a woman suffers difficult labor in childbirth, the fetus must be cut up in her womb and brought out piece by piece, for her life takes precedence over its life. If [however] its greater part has [already] come out, it must not be touched, for the [claims of one] life can not supersede [that of another] life.” (Oholoth 7:6)

On the basis of this, Judaic law has consistently argued that the health of the mother must take precedence over the fetus. This position was expounded by our most famous rabbis, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides"), known affectionately as Rambam, and Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, called Rashi.

As evidence that the fetus is not a full person ("nefesh"), it cannot receive gifts, and if aborted or miscarried, it cannot receive a Jewish name or have a Jewish funeral. Until it is born and breathing, it is a "rodef."

Rabbinic discussions of when the soul enters the fetus are not part of the conversations about abortion in Judaism. The learned rabbis were interested in ensoulment, the moment that the soul and the body were joined, but there was no agreement about the issue. It is consigned as a mystery haShem only knows.

In Judaism, a soul is immortal whether it is joined to a body or not. Ensoulment isn't confused by anything like the Christian notion of “Original Sin.” Historically, Christianity has considered ensoulment as the time when abortions should normally be prohibited. But Christians have taught that ensoulment occurs from the instant of fertilization of the ovum to ninety days after conception, or even later.

Most rabbis readily agree that trivial or material reasons for abortion should be vigorously condemned, but that abortion performed for the life and health of the mother and her family is both permissible and in some cases, required. Anything that restricts a woman from acting according to her family needs and her Jewish halacha is by definition antisemitic.

If the House health care bill is allowed to become law with the anti-abortion amendment intact, religious Americans of many faiths will be subjected to restrictions that contravene their own faith’s most studied, personal and sacred views about the major questions of life, family and freedom of religious conscience -- the freedoms enshrined by our nation’s founders.