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(Excerpted from news release, July 20, 2002, from Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism)

Jewish tradition considers the sanctity of all human life as an overriding principle to the extent that scholars, according to the Talmud, were forbidden to live in a community that did not boast a physician and a surgeon and the concept of pikuah nefesh (i.e., danger to one's life) and the prevention of disease were religious values clearly articulated in Jewish sources demanding society's intervention. Therefore, physicians were called upon to minister to all the sick regardless of religion or ethnicity, and men, women and children were given access to daily prayer and medical treatment. Protecting the health of the poor is considered so crucial that communal subsidies matched by reduced rates for poor patients have been the norm. These have been our values and commitments since Sinai and continue to guide us today. Funding UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) is essential to the lives of women and children all over the world….

News release, January 23, 2009, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Mark Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, today welcomed President Obama's repeal of the “Global Gag Rule.”  Under the Global Gag Rule, foreign family planning organizations that used their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services or to lobby their own governments for changes in abortion laws were banned from receiving any U.S. aid for their non-abortion family planning work.  Mr. Pelavin’s statement follows:

We are pleased and grateful that President Obama, in one of his first acts as President, issued an Executive Order to abolish the rule that withheld U.S. family planning funding to overseas organizations that support legal abortion. His action is particularly timely, coming just one day after the 36 th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. The repeal of the Global Gag Rule represents a major victory for international family planning programs and renews America’s position as a leader in the global community.

Jewish tradition teaches that if a person saves one life, it is as if they have saved the world. In a world where poor reproductive health remains the leading cause of death for women, and complications from unsafe abortion result in approximately 67,000 deaths and at least 5 million serious injuries annually, today marks an important step forward.

Repeal of the gag rule renews America’s commitment to protecting the health and lives of women and the future of families and communities everywhere. We hope this is the first step toward a new era of U.S. partnership in global cooperation to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and the advancement of women’s sexual and reproductive rights worldwide.

Excerpts of Remarks by Rabbi Scott Sperling,
Director, Union for Reform Judaism Mid-Atlantic Council, March 8, 2006  

“Women are commanded to care for the health and well-being of their bodies above all else.” That teaching, from the law code called in Hebrew, Mishneh Torah, written by Maimonides, a physician, scientist and great Jewish religious scholar of his age, tells us so much of what we need to know on this International Women’s Day.

…as a core Jewish value, we believe that “Providing health is not just an obligation for the patient and the doctor, but for the whole of society.” I can take great pride in this noble tradition of support for women and their health care needs. For along with Maimonides’ 700 year old statement, I can also point to the Union for Reform Judaism’s and the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ numerous statements and resolutions supporting the fundamental right of women to health care. In 1992, the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed a resolution that read in part, “Women are short-changed in many aspects of health care, from research and prevention to treatment, access and education. Addressing these inequities is fundamental to women's rights.”

Around the world, women and girls are confronted with substantial barriers to basic education, to health care and to economic opportunities. They are discriminated against and suffer intolerable abuses exclusively because of their gender. Sadly, too many seem to be willing to shut their eyes to these abuses and the litany of problems they create. Each year over a half a million women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Can any of us be surprised that 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries? Each year, eight million more women suffer serious health complications from pregnancy and childbirth. Each year, approximately 10.8 million children under the age of five die, frequently from low birth-weight or other causes related to complications in their mother’s pregnancy. As individuals and as a nation of faith and good will, can we hear this news and not have our hearts broken and our consciences stirred?

In a resolution regarding international women’s rights, the Reform Movement’s Commission on Social Action stated the matter plainly; “This unequal treatment is more than a matter of denial of abstract rights – it is a matter of life and death.” As religious leaders, it is our intention to speak out forcefully against these barriers, against these abuses and the evil consequences they bring. We are here to speak out for the fundamental rights of women to live lives of health and opportunity. To live lives with a brighter horizon and a more hopeful future.

For over 40 years, the United States has included family planning services as part of the aid we provide in the developing world. We’ve been able to see the benefits it brings to families and individual women. We can see the improvement in their well-being as we improve maternal health. We know that our support for family planning information and services is critically important in reducing maternal and infant deaths and preventing abortions. We know that access to modern contraception means lives saved and their futures improved. All this we know.