Support Abortion Access in 2024
This year, the US Supreme Court will hear a case about mifepristone and could limit and even restrict its accessibility. Mifepristone is safely used for the self-management of medication abortion and miscarriage around the world. Because reproductive freedom is a Jewish value, access to mifepristone is both a religious freedom issue and a health care accessibility issue. Below are a few ways you can support medication abortion access.
STAY UP TO DATE
Click on a case below to learn more about it.
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Medication abortion is the most common form of abortion care, utilizing a two-drug protocol including mifepristone, which was approved in 2000 after rigorous testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug has been used safely by more than five million people but has been targeted by anti-abortion groups since its approval. In 2022, a lawsuit was filed by such groups against both the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging their initial approval and recent policies allowing expanded access. This case could greatly impact the availability of mifepristone as well as the FDA’s regulatory authority.
NCJW supports comprehensive, affordable, accessible, confidential, equitable, and quality health products and services, including abortion, gender-affirming, reproductive, maternal, and sexual health care. Mifepristone is a proven safe and essential health product.
Follow the case on mifepristone with our timely updates at ncjw.org/latest.
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This is another case that threatens federal protections for abortion care. The Supreme Court announced that it will allow Idaho to enforce its strict abortion ban, even in medical emergencies. Idaho’s highly restrictive anti-abortion law, which went into effect when the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, includes criminal penalties for anyone who performs or attempts to perform an abortion, even when the pregnant person’s health is in danger. In 2022, the Biden Administration sued the state because the Idaho law conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. A district court and the full Ninth Circuit agreed and blocked that aspect of the law from going into effect. The Supreme Court stepped in on January 5, 2024 and allowed Idaho to enforce its abortion ban, including in medical emergencies, and agreed to hear the case in the spring. The Court’s announcement came just a few days after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that despite federal guidance to the contrary, emergency room doctors in Texas were not required to perform emergency abortions.
This case goes directly to the heart of NCJW’s work for abortion access. Our Jewish tradition mandates that when the life of a pregnant person is in danger, their life takes precedence over that of the fetus. This case, along with the case on medication abortion, threatens the availability of federal abortion access.
For updates on this case and others we’re watching, check out NCJW’s What’s At Stake: US Supreme Court 2023-2024 Term.
TAKE THE PLEDGE
Join the National Council of Jewish Women in the Jewish communal pledge to support abortion access. Our voices are needed now more than ever! The US Supreme Court is considering two abortion cases this term (see the Stay Up To Date section above) that could have a catastrophic impact on medication abortion and federal emergency abortion care.
These cases threaten what is left of federal abortion access.
With a patchwork of state laws restricting and/or banning abortion, we need access to medication abortion — the most common method of abortion and the easiest to access for most people — and we need federal protections that allow for emergency abortion care.
We know that a majority of the Jewish community supports abortion. Now, more than ever, we must raise our Jewish voices in support of abortion because of religion, not in spite of it.
Join NCJW to pledge your support for abortion access.
SPREAD THE WORD
Abortion is in front of the Supreme Court again.
Here’s what you can do to help inform Jewish advocates about what’s at stake this Supreme Court term.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
Get a medication abortion sweatshirt or poster to help tell the world that mifepristone is safe, effective, and belongs in our communities!
SUPPORT ABORTION ON THE BALLOT
Get involved with our 2024 ballot initiative work!
When abortion is on the ballot, it puts the question of reproductive freedom directly to voters. In 2024, Jews for Abortion Access are mobilizing in states across the country to protect reproductive freedom and expand access. Get involved in opportunities to turnout voters for reproductive freedom ballot initiatives across the U.S.
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media Guide for Medication Abortion in 2024
We know that medication abortion is safe, effective, and common. And, we know how important it is to speak up for reproductive and religious freedom so that those who prescribe medication abortions and those who get them can do so with dignity, free of shame or stigma.
Use this guide to share information about the cases as well as Judaism and abortion on your social media platforms.
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL
Stay Connected!
Sign up for Jews for Abortion Access emails to stay in the loop and learn how you can get involved and take action with us.
DONATE
Make a gift to the Jewish Fund for Abortion Access, which remains the best way to give Jewishly to the fight for reproductive freedom. Help give our movement the resources we need to mobilize and respond in this critical time.
