Abortion+Views+in+Israel

= Abortion Views in Israel =

Religion
Israel has a primarily Jewish population (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2015, October 9), therefore the laws and society are highly influenced by Judaism (Steinfeld, 2015). This influence is shown in the cultural understanding of when a fetus is attributed personhood by the Israeli society. Although the law does not recognize an unborn child as a person, the societal consensus is that a fetus begins to become a person when it becomes viable, or upon the parent’s recognition of movement of the fetus (Rimon-Zarfaty, Raz, & Hashiloni-Dolev, 2011).



The Law
Israel has committees that determine whether a pregnancy can be terminated (Steinfeld, 2015). In order to be considered for an abortion, the pregnant person must submit an appeal to be reviewed by the committee of three; this committee is made up of two doctors and one social worker, and one of the three must be a woman (Steinfeld, 2015). In order to be granted an abortion, a person must meet one or more of the following criteria: they must be under 18 or over 40, they are pregnant due to criminal acts such as rape, incest, or pre/extramarital sex, there is evidence that the fetus may have a physical or mental defect, or the pregnancy could cause physical or mental harm to the carrier (Steinfeld, 2015). In 2014 these criteria were expanded to include individuals ages 20 to 33 without medical cause (Chabin, 2014, January 7). The abortions that are granted by the committee are government funded (Chabin, 2014, January 7). In Israel, access to prenatal diagnosis is mandatory to everyone, the use of which has been considered as an influence in the number of abortions sought out by Israelis (Zivotofsky & Jotkowitz, 2009).

Cultural Opinions
The abortion policies in Israel are incredibly liberal in comparison to the rest of the world and the majority of abortions presented to committee members are granted (Gross, 2002). Despite the policies in place, public opinion regarding abortion due to non-medical reasons is similar to that of the US (Remennick & Hetsroni, 2001). The majority of citizens oppose abortion, and there is a strong correlation between being religious and being pro-life (Remennick & Hetsroni, 2001).

[|Video: A Closer Look at Israel's Abortion Committees]

Although the attitudes towards abortion are similar in Israel as compared to the US, some of the thought processes behind these attitudes differ (Steinfeld, 2015). For example, some of the most prominent reasons for being against abortion included repopulation of the Jewish race after the holocaust, the religious values of having a large family, and having many children in fear of losing one due to illness or violence related to war (Steinfeld, 2015). However, many of the reasons Israeli individuals support abortion are similar to that of others all over the world. Some of these reasons include health and welfare of the family, desire to have healthy children, and a woman’s right to control her body (Steinfeld, 2015).