Press Releases and Statements

NEW YORK, NY (May 2, 2022) For over five decades, the Rabbinical Assembly has strongly and repeatedly affirmed the halakhic necessity of access to abortion based on our members’ understanding of relevant biblical and rabbinic sources and teshuvot – rabbinic responses – and fiercely opposed efforts that would limit access to abortion or stifle reproductive freedoms in the U.S. In response to legislative efforts that threatened reproductive freedom in 2021, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, passed a Resolution on Right to Legal and Accessible Abortion in the United States. Following today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn its previous landmark cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, effectively nullifying the Constitutional right to abortion for millions of Americans, the RA issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 25, 2022) Following the killing of 19 schoolchildren and two adults, in Uvalde, TX, and the wounding of others, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 17, 2022)  Following the attack in Buffalo, New York, in which ten people were killed by a white supremacist gunman at a supermarket in a Black neighborhood, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (May 3, 2022) According to a draft majority opinion, the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn its previous landmark decisions, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, effectively ending the constitutional right to abortion. For more than fifty years, the Rabbinical Assembly has fiercely opposed efforts to limit abortion access and strongly supported reproductive rights. For example, in response to legislative efforts that threatened reproductive freedom in 2021, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association for Conservative/Masorti rabbis, passed a Resolution on Right to Legal and Accessible Abortion in the United States. Following the Supreme Court’s attack on abortion accessibility, the RA issued the following statement:

NEW YORK, NY (March 30, 2022) In response to the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Israel, the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international association of Conservative/Masorti movement rabbis, issued the following statement: