You’re welcome, Aurora — I enjoy your posts too. There was an article on the NY Times yesterday about Romney’s abortion views. Apparently his campaign just released an ad on this topic. The ad says he supports abortion “to save a mother’s life.” In the past, he may have said he supports it for the mother’s “health.” But now, it seems to be just to save the mother’s life.
My problem is with who makes the decision. According to halacha, abortion is required if it would save the mother’s life. Only rabbi is qualified to decide when the halachic requirements are met. Sometimes what is considered a lethal condition in halacha is different from what is considered a lethal condition in secular terms. I’m sure this isn’t replicated in the abortion context, but even some seemingly minor conditions are sometimes considered a life-threatening condition for the purposes of violating the laws of Shabbos. For example, a charedi rabbi recently told me that there is no halachic problem with removing a splinter on Shabbos (even if it involved prohibited activities like squeezing), because it’s an internal injury that might become infected (of course, consult your local rabbi for a ruling on such issues). This is an extreme example — I’m sure most differences of opinion on abortion would be more subtle. The point is, what the government or a doctor will consider life-threatening is not necessarily the same as what a rabbi will.
Keep in mind that many pro-lifers in America, especially Catholics (since this is the Church’s official position) believe that abortion is wrong even if it would be necessary to save the life of the mother. If the doctor or bureaucrat involved in deciding whether the mother’s life is at stake is one of these hard-core pro-lifers with views diametrically opposed to the Torah position, then I wouldn’t exactly trust that person to make the decision.
This danger, I assume, is what halachic authorities such as Rav Moshe Feinstein opposed pro-life legislation. Nowadays, there are some Orthodox rabbis, such as R’ Yehudah Levin, who wholeheartedly support the pro-life movement. Yet just because some people are apparently convinced that the standard Republican positions are necessarily the Torah positions, doesn’t mean that’s the case.
If pro-lifers consistently gave us assurances that our rabbis would be allowed to make the final decision on whether an abortion is permissible, then that would alleviate my concerns. But they will never do so (it would be unconstitutional because it would only apply to Orthodox rabbis — many non-Orthodox rabbis believe abortion is often permitted and the approval of a rabbi is not required).