Maharat Rori Picker Neiss
Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of St. Louis, MO
“Missouri’s abortion bans contradict, devalue and disrespect my religious beliefs that the life and health of a pregnant person take precedence over a fetus. Jewish law mandates the termination of a pregnancy if the life of the person carrying the fetus is in jeopardy. The claim that life begins at conception is a statement of theological belief, and that belief is explicitly not a Jewish one. Our Jewish community has not only survived but flourished in America because of the civil liberties we have been afforded in this country unlike most other countries in which we have lived, and the cornerstone of those liberties is the separation of church and state, including the right to abortion and access to comprehensive reproductive health care.”
