Pelman’s all-volunteer team audited training courses offered by the Rockville Pregnancy Clinic, which was founded by a group of churches with the aim of providing “positive alternatives to abortion for women facing unplanned pregnancies.”
With the help of volunteer social workers and doctors, ISA’s program includes information on birthing centers, health care, housing lists, adoption information and couples counseling. Care packages for expectant moms include Jewish books on pregnancy and childbirth, along with practical items such as Preggie Pops, which are designed to help ease nausea.
“We will be here to offer support every step of the way, through the birth and for a year afterward,” said Pelman, 31, who believes that ISA is the only Jewish group of its kind in the United States.
The all-volunteer ISA remains an online center, with a telephone help line that operates on a limited schedule. So far, Pelman’s group has worked with just a handful of women, including Saraleah.
Pelman believes that the non-Orthodox Jewish community has made abortion too acceptable and aims to bring more Jewish babies into the world.
Using abortion statistics from Planned Parenthood and the 2000 National Jewish Population Survey, she estimates that Jewish women undergo some 10,000 abortions annually.
“If we’re able to make a difference to people who might want to keep their baby,” said Herzfeld, the rabbinic adviser, “that is a great way to add to the strength of the Jewish people.”
As for Saraleah, who gave birth in November, she writes that ISA helped her see her pregnancy in a different way. Her child, she said in an e-mail, is “a gift from above.”
— Religion News Service
Loading...
Comments