Sixty-two percent of women who have abortions identify as women of faith. In research launched in the summer of 2023, Dr. Michal Raucher has collected the largest data set to date of Jewish people who have had abortions in the United States. Join Dr. Raucher as we explore this data focusing on how the participants in her research understand their own pregnancy terminations within their religious identity.  This ground-breaking five-part series will explore Jewish sources and research both through Zoom classes and in-person presentations.  Join us in person for the final session in person at Temple Beth Sholom on Tuesday, April 9 at 7pm. Livestream from the Beit Midrash available here

Abortion, Miscarriages, and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Jewish Women's Reproductive Experiences 

Court cases from the last few months have shown that the Dobbs decision was only one part of the attack on reproductive justice in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently deliberating the legality of mifepristone, a pill that facilitates abortions and miscarriages. Additionally, the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling on embryos has implications for individuals and couples trying to conceive using in-vitro fertilization. Join this final session with Prof. Michal Raucher where we will discuss how these cases relate to abortion. We will learn from Jewish women who have had abortions and who understand their abortions as just one of the many reproductive experiences they have had. Join us to discuss how Jewish women's reproductive experiences can challenge the increasingly restrictive legal framework for reproductive justice in the United States. 

About Michal Raucher, PhD  
Undergraduate Director and Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at Rutgers University

Michal Raucher is an associate professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. Her research lies at the intersection of the anthropology of women in Judaism, reproductive ethics, and religious authority. Michal has a background in religion, gender studies, anthropology, and bioethics. As a Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Raucher conducted research on the reproductive ethics of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish women in Israel. Her first book, Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority among Haredi Women (Indiana University Press, 2020), is based on this research. Dr. Raucher is working on her second book, titled The New Rabbis, which explores how religious authority is changing in Orthodoxy in America with a focus on women rabbis. Michal has also published on Jewish pronatalism, the study of Orthodox Judaism, sexuality and gender in Judaism, religion and bioethics, abortion legislation in Israel, and female religious advisors on the Internet. Dr. Raucher is currently conducting research on abortion and religion in America.

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