Reproductive Rights

Content type
Collection
Menstrual Pads

Free the Period

Sarah Groustra

This May, because of a Rising Voices Fellow's article, Brookline became the first municipality in the country to provide free menstrual products in every public restroom.

Two people holding signs

Rallying for ROE

Rachael Dubinsky

Massachusetts legislators just held a hearing for the ROE Act, a bill that would expand abortion access in the state.

#StopTheBans Rally

Abortion Bans and Rape Culture

Amy Jarkow

Restrictive abortion laws demonstrate the entitlement that men and the government feel they have over women’s bodies. Simply put, this is rape culture.

Keep Abortion Safe and Legal

Abortion Activism Brought Me Back to Judaism

Nina Henry

Jewish law actively reaffirms principles of reproductive justice.

Birth control pills

Healthy Youth, Act!

Emma Nathanson

We’ve questioned the way sex ed is taught and brainstormed new methods health teachers should be using.

Hannah Downing at L'Taken Social Justice Seminar

Raising My Voice

Hannah Downing

I was in a room full of young Jewish liberals of diverse backgrounds, taking workshops on topics such as campaign finance reform and the history of abortion in the Talmud. What could be better!?

Erika Davis

Born, raised, and educated in Toledo, Ohio, Erika Davis is an independent birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, and yoga instructor.

Barbara Seaman holding vaginal cap at Pre-1980 Women's March press conference

In Search of Jewish Voices from the Women’s Health Movement

Jillian M. Hinderliter

How did so many Jewish women come to be leaders within the women’s health movement? Eight of the twelve creators of Our Bodies, Ourselves were Jewish. Four of the five founders of the National Women’s Health Network were also Jewish.

Ask Emma February 2019 Crop

Ask Emma: Finding Love and Anti-Capitalist Reads

Emma G.

My friends have encouraged me to try online dating, but I tried it and went on a few dates and I keep on meeting people who just aren’t as fired up about political change as I am.

Episode 2: Body of Knowledge (Transcript)

Episode 2: Body of Knowledge (Transcript)

Emily Axelrod at L'Taken

Stirred and Spurred to Action

Emily Axelrod

Judaism never seemed to offer anything that stoked my social justice fire. I didn’t hear many calls to action in services; partly because I wasn’t looking, and partly because services felt mundane to me.

Rachel Harris with Grandparents and Brother

Lessons from Savta

Rachel Harris

I always knew my grandma was pretty cool. As soon as activism became something of interest to me, my mom started telling me stories about her experiences growing up with my grandmother. They never ate Domino’s because the owner had expressed strong anti-choice sentiments; they didn’t eat grapes to support Cesar Chavez; activism was simply ingrained in my mom’s life from a very young age — mostly because of her mom.

Rising Voices Retreat Workshop

Addressing #MeToo with Jewish Teens

Larisa Klebe

If you work with teens in any number of settings, you know that for many of them, the #MeToo movement is at the forefront of their minds ... Although it’s not our primary role as educators to provide counseling for teens who may be struggling with their own #MeToo experiences, we can play a part in helping them navigate this complex and multi-faceted conversation, and in a Jewish context.

Composite of At The Well Logo and Sarah Waxman

At The Well with Sarah Waxman

Abby Richmond

Menstruation: A little over half of all bodies do it, have done it, or will one day be doing it, and yet we are encouraged to not be curious about this physical process that literally makes life possible. At The Well (ATW), a Jewish women's wellness nonprofit, is seeking to bridge that artificial (and patriarchally imposed) gap between women, their bodies, and spirituality.

Bella Abzug at a Women Strike for Peace Protest

#JWAmegaphone: Voices of Power and Protest

Judith Rosenbaum

At JWA, we believe that history is not only about the past; it is about the present. The events of the past year have made us more keenly aware than ever that we’re living through history in the making. And not just witnessing it—we are part of it, makers of history with each action we take.

Body Protest

(Reproductive) Justice, You Shall Pursue

Sara Lebow

Reproductive health includes the right to have children and to access all amenities necessary to care for those children. It means a right to bodily autonomy no matter one’s sexuality, gender, class, or ethnicity.

A First-Generation Argentine Woman with her Daughter, 1936

Am I Glad My Mother Didn’t Abort Me?

Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

I have one rule when it comes to writing opinion pieces: Never read the comments...It was harder to ignore the handwritten letter that arrived at my office.

Marianne Lieberman (Thumbnail)

Being Female, Feminist, and Very Political at 90

Sara Lebow

Marianne Lieberman is a Holocaust survivor and artist credited with incorporating the first NARAL affiliate in Raleigh in 1977 after undergoing her own illegal abortion in 1949.

Congressman Lee Zeldin

Through a Jewish Lens: An Argument for Safe, Legal Abortion

Madisen Siegel

My name is Madisen Siegel. I am an 18-year- old, soon-to-be-registered voter in the first district of New York. As one of your constituents, and a young adult who just moved to New York–fresh from the malls and suburbia of northern New Jersey–I am concerned about your stance on healthcare, and I am asking you to re-think your position, especially when it comes to abortion. 

Doctored Rosa Stokes Image

When We Talk About Abortion

Lisa Batya Feld

There is no condemnation of abortion in the New Testament, the Torah, or the Koran.

Fania Mindell and Joyce Antler, Composite Photo

The Translators and Spies of the Reproductive Rights Movement

Lisa Batya Feld

This Women’s History Month, the Jewish Women’s Archive is celebrating the thousands of Jewish women who have participated in activism and resistance in the United States. We all know the names of the most famous women who shaped these movements, from Gloria Steinem to Emma Goldman: the women with the megaphones, with the loud voices and stirring speeches, the women whose names made it into the history books.

Paid Sick Time Rally, 2016

The Other Side of Reproductive Justice: An Interview with Sherry Leiwant

Bella Book

Abortion rights often dominate our national conversation about reproductive justice. There’s another side to this issue that doesn’t make as many headlines: the right to parent.

"The only hope is shoulder to shoulder" Women's March sign

All The Mornings After

Lisa Batya Feld

The march had originally anticipated 25,000 participants, and by Friday, more than 105,000 had registered. Most people there, like me, had not, so the crowd was mind-bogglingly huge.

Bella Abzug at a Women Strike for Peace Protest

#JWAmegaphone: Voices of Power and Protest

Judith Rosenbaum

At JWA, we believe that history is not only about the past, but also about the present—it’s unfolding every day.

2016-2017 Rising Voices Fellow Isabel Kirsch at her Bat Mitzvah

Public Responsibility: From Biblical Consent To Planned Parenthood

Isabel Kirsch

When I first read my assigned Bat Mitzvah parsha (Torah portion), Ki Teitzei, my response was one of shock and disgust. The parsha discusses the guidelines for punishing an engaged virgin who lies with another man, outlining different punishments depending upon where the activity occurs.

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