In 2007, 448 Israelis were killed in road accidents, and 13 were killed by Palestinian terrorism. In the same year, roughly 50,000 future citizens were lost to the Jewish people and the State of Israel because they were aborted before birth.
Israel justifiably spends hundreds of millions of shekels annually to lower the carnage on the highways, and billions of shekels to combat Palestinian terrorism. Yet not one shekel from state coffers assists mothers who want to give birth but whose difficult financial circumstances discourage them from doing so. Tragically, dentists invest more effort to avoid extracting a decaying tooth than Israeli society invests to save the life of a Jewish child.
One reason for Israel’s high abortion rate is that hospital abortion committees routinely approve every abortion request and do not provide pregnant women with information about possible sources of help.
Additionally, social workers often encourage pregnant mothers to undergo abortions because of the lack of alternative resources which offer real support. Recently, however, more and more social workers have been able to tell their clients about EFRAT, an organization which offers financial help and emotional support to mothers considering terminating their pregnancies because of their financial circumstances. This information is vital for mothers who wish to make an informed decision regarding their pregnancy.
The demographic threat to Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state is compounded by the high abortion rate. The Arab birthrate is twice that of the Israel’s Jewish population. More than 50% of the Arab population is under 18; while only a third of the Jewish population falls into that category.
Even more tragic is the fact that many women who decide to abort in actuality want to bring their children into the world, and they will do so with a minimum of financial help and encouragement. Last year alone, EFRAT assisted 3,568 such mothers.
All of these mothers had already decided to undergo an abortion when one of EFRAT’s 3,000 volunteers contacted them and told them about the assistance available through EFRAT. Many of those volunteers had themselves decided at one time to abort but later changed their minds.
Volunteers often bring their own “EFRAT babies” to their first meeting with the pregnant women. Volunteers offer no ideological or theological arguments; rather, they say that should the women choose to have their babies, they can count on emotional support from EFRAT’s volunteers and professional staff, as well as the provision of basic baby equipment such as a crib, new stroller, and baby bath; and items such as baby clothes, blankets, diapers, bottles, bibs and pacifiers.
After the birth, EFRAT delivers all necessary baby equipment, formula, diapers and monthly food packages to the family’s home for the first year of the child’s life. The entire package costs no more than 600 shekels. Yet, over and over again that small sum has proven to be the difference between the decision to abort and the decision to save a Jewish life.
Since its establishment by Hirsch Faigenbaum, a Holocaust survivor, EFRAT has assisted more than 30,000 women. Approximately three-quarters of those women were married and capable of raising their child in a stable environment, yet hesitated to bring another child into the world primarily due to their financial situation.
Of those 30,000 mothers, not one has ever complained that she made the wrong decision, says Dr. Eli Schussheim, chairman of EFRAT. The walls of his office are covered with pictures of hundreds of smiling Jewish children, sent by their grateful mothers.
Given the threats, demographic and otherwise, to the future of the Jewish people, we have the duty to provide each Jewish woman with the information and the wherewithal she needs in order to make an informed decision about whether to give birth to her child.
Dr. Schussheim maintains that mothers abort because of a lack of general public awareness that 1) Israel’s epidemic abortion endangers her existence as a Jewish state; and 2) EFRAT’s simple, inexpensive solution provides life to the baby; happiness and joy to the mother; security to Israel and the future of the Jewish People.
EFRAT invites the public to visit its Jerusalem office any time. For more information, please contact our office in Israel at +972-2-653-6212, or in New York at (732) 725-1270; 1612 5th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204.
