Israel’s abortion law now among world’s most liberal

Maybe not the most liberal but definitely in the top 10 in the world.

Conservatives should be proud of Israel for their liberal abortion laws!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-abortion-law-now-among-worlds-most-liberal/

Israel, a nation with a forceful religious lobby and a conservative prime minister, is poised to offer its female citizens some of the most liberal abortion coverage in the world.

The nation’s Health Ministry commission, led by Dr. Yonatan Halevy, last week announced its state-subsidized “health basket,” the package of medications and services that all Israeli citizens are entitled to under the nation’s health care system. It was approved by the cabinet on Sunday. The health basket is analyzed and amended on an annual basis, and among the many additional treatments to be offered to Israelis in 2014 are free-of-charge abortions for women ages 20-33.


Israel has always had a liberal stance on abortion, allowing women facing medical emergencies or those who are victims of rape or abuse to receive subsidies to help them terminate their pregnancies. Outside of those regulations, women can apply for abortions for reasons ranging from an emotional or mental threat caused by the pregnancy or for not being married to the baby’s father. All women who seek to end a pregnancy must appear before a three-member committee to state their case, but 98 percent of requests are approved. Women under the age of 20 or over the age of 40 were also previously eligible for subsidized abortions, regardless of the reason.

With the newly amended health care package, however, funding will now be available for more than 6,000 additional women seeking to terminate their pregnancies, at the cost at some NIS 16 million ($4.6 million). No medical reason for the abortion is required.



Later down in the article

It is highly unlikely, however, that Israel will soon see protests that even come near those that target abortion clinics in the United States, where the legality of pregnancy termination remains one of that nation’s most polarizing issues. A backlash of societal shaming against abortion-seekers — such as in Spain, where some 60% of women are prompted to pay for the procedure privately rather than collect the available government funding — is also highly improbable.

The number of nations that now take a stance as liberal as Israel’s on abortion can be counted on one hand. In Canada, abortion is legal at any stage of a woman’s pregnancy, and those performed in hospitals (but not in private clinics) are for the most part covered by insurance. In Slovenia, abortion has been free since 1977, and in 2006, a government minister who tried to limit funding to only those women whose lives were at risk was promptly asked to resign his post.

While Israel may seem an unlikely party to such liberalism, global legislation on abortion proves that when it comes to the life of a fetus, a nation’s politics do not always jive with its attitude toward the controversial procedure.

Some stalwartly left-leaning nations are surprisingly rigid on their abortion laws, including Sweden, where women have only the first 18 weeks of their pregnancy to apply for the procedure before being barred except in cases of mortal danger. And in Russia, a nation whose conservative stance on issues like gay rights has prompted roiling protests ahead of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, there are more abortions performed each year than there are live births.

The women set to benefit from the expansion of abortion benefits, Halevy says, will be those who need it most: single women, young women who are unable to ask their parents for the funds, or those who fall pregnant as the result of an extramarital affair but are financially dependent on their husbands. While he concedes that there have been some knee-jerk statements against the ruling, he says that “once you explain who the candidates are who are set to benefit from it, I didn’t hear much opposition.”



Read more: Israel's abortion law now among world's most liberal | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-abortion-law-now-among-worlds-most-liberal/

 

The world is beginning to realize that abortion is a woman's right .. I wonder how pro-lifers feel about siding with countries such as Afghanistan, Iran & Yemen.

 

Socials issues like abortion, euthanasia, infanticide...is something each society decides and deals with. I think its horrible that Belgan willfully kills born children, or let children "choose" to die....but I'm focused on the society my children will live in. Israel seems like s a liberal progressive type society, I'm not surprised or shocked..

 

How do you feel about the United States being allied with a country that 'murders children in the womb' as many pro-lifers put it?

 

Not only allies but heavy financial supporters as well. This is truly "using MY tax money to provide abortions."

 

This puts Rightwingers, especially the Religious Right ...in a bit of a paradox.

On the one hand, they abhor any even tangential support for State-funded abortion by the United States....

but as Neo-cons and "Rapture Ready", they demand unwavering support including FINANCIAL support for Israel, which is now offering State-funded abortion.

So they're stuck.....supporting "God's Annointed Land"....as it "pays for babies to be killed in the womb". OR opposing aid to Israel...which means "cutting off" the nation they insist is our "most valuable ally in the Middle East" and "part of God's plan for the End Times".

BTW, I tried to note this story before....and most of the "pro-lifers" wouldn't touch it...for just that paradox.

 

I love that not a single pro-lifer, aside from CKW, has responded to this post yet. Are they stumped by it or what?

 

Told you...it's a paradox for them.

They can't criticize Israel (either out of neo-con or "Christian Zionist" foreign policy support)...

but they can't condone state-funded abortions that OUR financial aid to Israel allows Israel to pay for.

It's like (in my Signature line) where Ronald Reagan came out for amnesty for undocumented immigrants. They idolize Reagan....but claim "only RiNOs and America-hating libs push amnesty for illegals".

 

There's nothing unbibical about criticizing Israel.

 

Sam, I challenged you once on this...when you CLAIMED that you'd support cutting off aid to Israel, due to its state-funded abortion policy....

go tell your friends you support cutting off aid to Israel.....tell your friends at church....tell the minister/priest......tell your PARENTS that you support cutting off aid to Israel.

And then see how fast you change your mind, once they start accusing you of "ignoring the Big Picture, Sam".

 

I wonder if this will curb any of the rampant antisemitism among the American left.

 

No it won't. Once antisemitism begins to grow inside a segment of the population it begins to feed on itself. Cocktail circuit leftwing elitists are perfectly capable of using the factoid to buttress their pro-abortion arguments and then immediately follow that up with a snide bit of snark about either the Israeli government or about Jews in general.

 

Well as I am accused of being a leftie (absurd) and my partner is Jewish and I support this change in the law (as does she) your assertion falls flat on it's ass.

 

No it doesn't; because my assertion has nothing to do with whether or not it is a good law. I was writing in reply to a specific question regarding the nature of the Left's ever growing antisemitism sentiments in this nation and their ongoing hypocrisy.

 

Ok, just remove the part about the law from my comment .. still makes your assertion a fail, your assertion that this is a 'left' thing isn't strictly correct, the far right is just as induced in this as you claim the left are, though I will admit that this is also part of the radical far left particularly Trotskyist groups in Western Europe and America. More central 'lefts' and 'rights' do not think like this.

 

You mean the world is becoming more and more progressive and socialist. also so narrow minded that they think the fetus has so little worth, it is OK to kill it. Great world we live in today

 

stumped by what other countries do? Not at all. We try to be a voice for our own country, not other countries. They have their own voice. If I had my way most, if not all foreign aid would cease. We are not the keepers, or financiers of the world. also if I had my way abortion on demand would not exist in this country that I love dearly. It would exist for extreme circumstances of woman's life, fetus deformity, or condition and fetus already dead.
We should support all free countries who allow the people to decide what is best for their respective countries, even if we do not agree with them on every issue. This means if they are attacked, we help. Also means we have good trades relations.

 

I wonder if a "Israel Right or Wrong" type...who's also "pro-life"....can figure a way out of this paradox?

 

We're the financier of Israel......yet, the number of "pro-lifers", who abhor state-funded abortions in the US....will demand cutting off aid to Israel that has state-funded abortions, can be counted on one hand.

Even on the Religious Right side....who'll sacrifice "a few babies" because of "how important loyalty to Israel" is for the "End Times".

 

Please explain how a zef has value to anyone until it is gestated by the woman.

 

So you think that if a people is 'murdering children in the womb'...we should still try and have good trade relations with them? Or associate with them at all?

No suggestions to go over and save those children though. Only if another country is attacked by them should we get involved. Hilarious.

Once again I am left feeling extremely skeptical that pro-lifers actually believe fetuses are the equivalent of born children.

 

Collectivist, apartheidist, Leninist, liberal abortion laws . . . There's a lot in there for a conservative to love. And they DO.

 

A world so narrow minded that they recognize that a pregnant woman is a person and not a piece or property to be bent to the will of those who would force her to give birth by weight of law.

A world so narrow minded that they recognize that the poorest people need help and don't cry in the corner that it is 'stealing' the dollars from their pockets.

A world so narrow minded that they recognize the obvious that the ONLY way to reduce abortion is to make sure our future generations have comprehensive sex education and the ability to avoid pregnancy.

A world so narrow minded that they recognize the total failure of religious based "no sex til marriage" dogma.

A world so narrow minded that they recognize that consent given to one person for one act does not mean consent given to another person for a different act.

A world so narrow minded that they recognize we don't live in the 1950's anymore where women were basically property within a marriage.

etc etc etc

 

1-Prove that abstinence programs don't work.

2-How is a belief in abstinence a failure?

3-Prove that "consent to one person does not give consent to another person". I would argue against that stance, since the fetus's very existence is connected directly to the woman consenting to sex with the man.

 

Easy. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/04/10/461402/teen-pregnancy-sex-education/

Abstinence only works if people actually follow through with it and remain celibate until they are ready or trying to procreate. It has already been proven not to work because people do not want to and will never stop having sex.

You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding.

Just think critically and logically for a moment and formulate some other scenario outside sex and pregnancy where you think this would somehow work.