New film shows Jewish views on abortion
Under G-d premiered at Sundance Film Festival
A new documentary focuses on religious support among Jews for abortion rights.
Paula Eiselt’s Under G-d premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January. It features interviews with a Jewish mother and activist in Indiana, a rabbi in Florida and lawyers nationwide seeking to fight abortion bans in part by placing them in the legal and cultural context of religious freedom. The film shows how activists are using the Establishment Clause, which forbids the establishment of state religion in the First Amendment.
Eiselt spoke to Repro Rights Now about the film. She wanted to emphasize that people shouldn’t force religious interpretations of abortion on others who may be driven to a different position by their faith.
“When those lines are blurred, it eats away at our democracy,” Eiselt said. “Our democracy is really based on a separate church and state. And freedom for all only comes when that's separate.”
Eiselt, who is Jewish, was fascinated by how heavily involved Jews were in the abortion rights movement historically.
“That was an inspiration to me and just learned about how Jewish women have been at the forefront of this movement since the turn of the century of the 20th century,” Eiselt said. “It was deeply inspiring to me.”
She said it was surprising to a lot of people that religious people are largely pro-choice and support safe access.
“What the anti-choice crowd has done is create this mythical binary that if you're a person of faith, you must be anti-abortion,” Eiselt said.
The cutting-edge part of the repro rights movement now is to embrace and build support among devout people. Eiselt’s film showcases that.
“I think it's a mistake to not include religious people because that's a really valuable tool,” she said. “Their voice is really valuable”