Affording Human Dignity

On Thursday afternoon, the day the U.S. Supreme Court released their opinion on Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, I arrived at its steps with WRJ President Karen Sim, URJ Board Chair Shelley Niceley Groff, our partners at NCJW, and other fellow advocates to stand up for healthcare and reproductive rights. The Supreme Court overrode the Medicaid Act’s provision which allowed patients to access services at any qualified healthcare provider—including Planned Parenthood—and protected their ability to sue to maintain this right. We condemned this decision and gathered on June 26 rooted not only in justice, but also in my Jewish values. As a rabbi and the leader of the feminist affiliate of the largest and most diverse Jewish denomination in North America, I know that Judaism is clear about my responsibility to advocate for bodily autonomy for all.  

Minutes after I arrived, counter-protesters – who had received a favorable decision – began to yell at us and drown out our words. We formed a tight circle of allies as they banged drums and screamed in our faces. Unable to hear each other and feeling unsafe, we walked several blocks away to a nearby church, seeking sanctuary. After inviting everyone to center themselves, I spoke and sang about finding sanctuary during difficult moments – from the screaming counter-protestors to the Supreme Court’s dangerous precedent for our healthcare and our bodies.  

Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic determined whether South Carolina could bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds within the state. More than one million patients in South Carolina are currently on Medicaid. And of that million, about 400,000 are women between the ages of 15 and 44, all of whom will be denied the qualified health care provider of their choice now that the Court decided to rule against human dignity at the end of this month.  

Simply put, this case was about denying low-income people – majority of whom are Black and Latino - autonomy in their health care decisions. Why? Because conservative lawmakers want to do everything in their power to defund clinics that provide abortion services, even though Medicaid doesn’t cover this care in the first place.  

Jewish tradition emphasizes importance of kavod ha’briyot, respect for individual dignity, and pikuach nefesh - that preserving life overrides nearly every other commandment. Ensuring access to reproductive health care, including abortion and other essential medical services, is a matter of saving lives—physically, emotionally, and economically. When barriers are placed between individuals and their health care providers, human dignity and lives are at risk.

Now that Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health centers are no longer permitted as approved providers to Medicaid patients, many will be denied care altogether. Almost 40 percent of all counties in South Carolina are considered “contraceptive deserts” where there aren’t enough providers to serve all people in need.  

As the largest family planning provider in the nation, Planned Parenthood provides the full range of preventive care including pre-natal counseling, birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings, and more. Yes, Planned Parenthoods also provide essential health care such as abortion care. Yet the funds allocated from Medicaid never covered these services in the first place. Therefore, this case was a step to indirectly defund abortion providers, ultimately denying care to those minoritized in our communities.  

And we are seeing this in all branches of government. Over the past several years, laws pushed by religious extremists who do not represent the majority opinion in the United States, and directly go against Jewish tradition, continue to create life or death circumstances for those directly affected by these measures.  

The current reconciliation bill in the Senate lays out the guidance for a back-door abortion ban, hidden among hundreds of pages of legislation. The bill includes provisions that could restrict federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health providers, potentially denying abortion care and other essential health care services to 1.1 million patients across the country.  

Women of Reform Judaism has been speaking out since our inception in 1913 about the Jewish perspective on abortion, showing time and again that what we see as the “religious” perspective is only showing a narrow conservative Christian view, attempting to deny essential care for those who can’t afford to seek treatment otherwise.  

Any decision that excludes Planned Parenthood as a safe, reliable option for care only perpetuates this extremist view, in a country that ironically also advocates for a separation of church and state.  

Looking at this case further, the implications of a ruling denying care have the potential to even extend to areas where health care is readily accessible. This could open the door to states discriminating against other qualified medical providers, deciding arbitrarily that patients cannot use their Medicaid coverage at certain health clinics.  

We must continue the necessary work to ensure fundamental dignity to all patients. I do so knowing that reproductive freedom is a Jewish value and most importantly the responsibility of standing as allies to those whose rights are on the line. There should never be a cost to human dignity.