Thursday 13 February 2014

Abortions in Israel: Is the law as liberal as they claim?

Today, I published my second blog as a Jewish thinker for Israel's Haaretz newspaper on the topic of abortion in Israel. Below are the first 150 words, and in 48 hours I'll re-post the whole article. 

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Abortions in Israel: Is the law as liberal as they claim?

Israel’s recent health-basket reform may make abortions more affordable, but hardly more accessible. Part one of a two-part series.

By  Feb. 13, 2014 | 11:58 AM

Imagine you’re a woman in Israel facing an unwanted pregnancy. If you’re lucky and wealthy, you could pay for an illegal, private, no-questions-asked abortion, setting you back between NIS 2,099-2,912 ($600 and $830), depending on the stage you’re at and whether it’s a surgical or medical termination.

If you’re less well off, you could go the legal route. But then you’ll have to jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops, since abortion in Israel is only legal if you receive permission from a Pregnancy Termination Committee (consisting of two doctors and a social worker) and fulfill one of four criteria: you’re under-18 or over-40, pregnant as a result of criminal or extra-marital relations, your fetus is likely to have a physical or mental defect, or your pregnancy poses a danger to your life or could cause you physical or mental harm. If you don’t meet the criteria, you could lie - but this is risky.

This article was originally published by Haaretz. For the full article, click here.