I WEAR THE WAY I WANNA DO

June 15, 2012

tehsunshine:

checkmateprolifer:

This is Gisella Perl, a a successful Jewish gynaecologist in Sighet, Romania in the 1930s and 40s. She was taken to Auschwitz in 1944, where she treated women with kindness and compassion. She was asked to report all pregnant women to Josef Mengele- better known as the Angel of Death. When she discovered what was done to them (medical experimentation and torture, ending with often being thrown alive into the crematoriums) she vowed that there would never again be a pregnant woman in Auschwitz. So she began the abortions.
In her time in Auschwitz, Dr. Perl performed over 3,000 abortions in spite of her professional and religious beliefs as a doctor and an observant Jew. Any babies born alive in Auschwitz were usually drowned, despite Mengele’s orders to allow them to starve to death. Because of Dr. Perl’s brave actions in performing these abortions, many women made it out of Aschwitz alive, able to go on and have families after the war.
Although she was vilified by many for her actions, there is no doubt that she is not the monster abortionists are made out to be. This woman, this doctor, this abortionist was a hero. Despite her personal beliefs, she understood what had to be done. If you click the photo, you can go to a more extensive biography of her- she was a true hero.

And this is why the next person who tries to Godwin’s Law the abortion debate is getting punched in the mouth.

My heroine!
One thing though: I am by absolutely no means a rabbinical scholar or authority on Jewish law, but my understanding is that Dr. Perl’s brave and resourceful actions in no way violated the tenets of Orthodox Judaism. Jewish law does not allow what we might call “elective abortion”—it takes the urging to “go forth and multiply” quite seriously, and a fetus must be protected under ordinary circumstances. However, the teachings of the Torah and Talmud on the subject have been traditionally interpreted for centuries to mean that life begins at the first breath, that a fetus is important but not as important as a living, breathing person, and that abortion is not only permissible in life-or-death situations, but required, as the fetus in this situation is a rodef, or pursuer, intent on taking the mother’s life. While this is almost always used in cases where the fetus itself is threatening fatal harm to the mother, situations like Auschwitz would fall into this category as well. In performing these abortions for women who would absolutely have been murdered otherwise, Dr. Perl was obeying both the letter and spirit of the law (which, of course, may have been different from her own private beliefs).

checkmateprolifer:

This is Gisella Perl, a a successful Jewish gynaecologist in Sighet, Romania in the 1930s and 40s. She was taken to Auschwitz in 1944, where she treated women with kindness and compassion. She was asked to report all pregnant women to Josef Mengele- better known as the Angel of Death. When she discovered what was done to them (medical experimentation and torture, ending with often being thrown alive into the crematoriums) she vowed that there would never again be a pregnant woman in Auschwitz. So she began the abortions.

In her time in Auschwitz, Dr. Perl performed over 3,000 abortions in spite of her professional and religious beliefs as a doctor and an observant Jew. Any babies born alive in Auschwitz were usually drowned, despite Mengele’s orders to allow them to starve to death. Because of Dr. Perl’s brave actions in performing these abortions, many women made it out of Aschwitz alive, able to go on and have families after the war.

Although she was vilified by many for her actions, there is no doubt that she is not the monster abortionists are made out to be. This woman, this doctor, this abortionist was a hero. Despite her personal beliefs, she understood what had to be done. If you click the photo, you can go to a more extensive biography of her- she was a true hero.

And this is why the next person who tries to Godwin’s Law the abortion debate is getting punched in the mouth.

My heroine!

One thing though: I am by absolutely no means a rabbinical scholar or authority on Jewish law, but my understanding is that Dr. Perl’s brave and resourceful actions in no way violated the tenets of Orthodox Judaism. Jewish law does not allow what we might call “elective abortion”—it takes the urging to “go forth and multiply” quite seriously, and a fetus must be protected under ordinary circumstances. However, the teachings of the Torah and Talmud on the subject have been traditionally interpreted for centuries to mean that life begins at the first breath, that a fetus is important but not as important as a living, breathing person, and that abortion is not only permissible in life-or-death situations, but required, as the fetus in this situation is a rodef, or pursuer, intent on taking the mother’s life. While this is almost always used in cases where the fetus itself is threatening fatal harm to the mother, situations like Auschwitz would fall into this category as well. In performing these abortions for women who would absolutely have been murdered otherwise, Dr. Perl was obeying both the letter and spirit of the law (which, of course, may have been different from her own private beliefs).

(via ruefontaine)

6:21am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuS6HyNP7UyE

(Notes: 15,735)