Family Planning and Contraceptives
Access to affordable family planning services is a critical component of our reproductive health and rights advocacy, as access to these services equip individuals with the necessary tools to shape their lives and futures. Family planning can reduce maternal mortality by preventing unwanted pregnancies, protect the health of children by allowing sufficient time between pregnancies, and help stabilize population growth. Access to affordable family planning services can also disrupt generational cycles of poverty.
Family planning was named as a human rights obligation more than fifty years ago at the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights. However, despite global commitments to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services (including for family planning), family planning and contraceptive access remains out of reach for millions of individuals across the globe, including North America.
Standing with our Muslim Family
Bias and violence against the Muslim community is a growing, insidious issue in the United States. The number of assaults against Muslims in 2016 surpassed the modern peak reached in 2001, following the September 11th terrorist attacks, and incidents of anti-Muslim intimidation continue to rise, as well. In addition, the administration’s discriminatory travel ban now impacts individuals seeking visas from 13 foreign counties, most of which have Muslim-majority populations.
The Jews and Muslims are all the family of Abraham, and we stand side-by-side with our Muslim friends and family to reject Islamophobia in the strongest terms. We have a responsibility to vocally and forcefully oppose bigotry in all its forms. Our country is stronger because of the religious diversity and freedom that has always been our hallmark, and American Muslims are an indispensable part of this nation.
Immigration Justice
Today, we face the enormous challenges posed by our nation's broken immigration system. Over 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the shadows of our communities across North America. Families face up to decades-long backlogs in acquiring visas, workers are left without protections, and children are left behind as parents are deported. We can no longer delay reform of our immigration system based on streamlined processing, a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and TPS holders, upholding the right to seek asylum, family reunification, just and humane border security, and an end to immigrant detention.
Civil Rights & Voting Rights
The Torah teaches to accept others without prejudice and to work with others to achieve social justice. Since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Jewish community has continued its support of civil rights laws addressing systemic discrimination in voting, housing, and employment against not only women and people of color but also the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities.
Learn About the RAC and the Civil Rights Movement
The RAC's work on voting rights and democracy is made possible in part by the Leo and Libby Nevas Foundation.
Download our free Grow a Good Citizen: Every Voice, Every Vote activity book for kids ages 5-12, crafted with content from Highlights Magazine. It's packed with inspiring short stories, engaging games, and mind-teasing puzzles that educate and inspire action around voting and democracy, to help make sure everyone's voice is heard.
Living and Minimum Wage
Among full-time, year-round workers, poverty has doubled since the late 1970s. The U.S. Census Bureau found that in 2019, the official poverty rate was 10.5 percent (34 million people). This figure includes the 10.5 million children (1 in 7) who are in poverty The current federal minimum wage is no longer a fair wage because its value has fallen sharply over the past 40 years.
The minimum wage is the absolute minimum amount a person can earn. Yet, at $7.25 per hour, an employee who is working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks a year, earns only $15,080. This is below the federal poverty limit of $17,240 for a family of two and many individuals who are paid the federal minimum wage are often supporting far more than just one other person.
Reproductive Justice
The legal right to have an abortion or obtain contraceptive care does not mean much if these rights are inaccessible. The Reproductive Justice Movement is a contemporary movement and a framework coined by 12 visionary Black women in 1994 that centers the voices and concerns of marginalized communities in conversations relating to reproduction, sexuality, and families.
Incorporating a reproductive justice framework to our reproductive health and rights work demands that we dig deeper than a traditional “pro-choice” lens by taking into account the ways in which an individual’s identities, communities, and other systems of oppression may impact access to key reproductive health care services and rights. Learn more about the Reproductive Justice Movement and why we are committed to working alongside communities of color to bring this framework to our existing work.
Hate Crimes
Over the past few decades, we have witnessed an increase in violent hate crimes across America. The litany of names has become familiar. Along with the brutal, hate-motivated murders of James Byrd Jr. in Texas, Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, and Billy Jack Gaither in Alabama, hate-motivated attacks continue to strike fear into the hearts of many different communities. Particularly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, hate-based attacks upon Arab Americans, Muslims, and Sikhs increased at a frightening rate.
Antisemitism, white supremacy, and other forms of bigotry have all risen dramatically in the U.S. in recent years, as shown by the FBI Hate Crimes Statistics (required under the 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act). Collecting accurate information about these hate crimes, government and non-governmental organizations can better plan and program educational activities to combat hatred.
While hate crime laws cannot eliminate bigotry, legislation serves as a deterrent to those individuals who choose to act on their hatred by imposing stricter penalties against the perpetrators of these crimes. Although the stricter punishment is critical, the goal of hate crimes laws is often tied to the idea of educating perpetrators, law enforcement officers, and the general public about the scourge of hate in our society.
Reproductive Health and Rights
The Reform Movement's positions on reproductive rights are grounded in the core belief that each person should have agency and autonomy over their own bodies. Our advocacy around abortion access is inspired by the Jewish value of kavod ha’briyot, respect for individual dignity. This same sanctity underscores the vital need for medically accurate sexuality education, affordable family planning services, and high-quality maternal and women’s health care.
We strive to work in partnership with both secular and faith-based organizations and build relationships across lines of faith, race, and other differences to create a world in which every person is able to shape their reproductive lives with dignity.
The RAC is partnering with Women of Reform Judaism on the WRJ-RAC Reproductive Health & Rights Campaign to provide an organizing structure for congregations, women's groups, and other Reform Jewish communities to take collective action for reproductive health and rights on a local, state, provincial, and federal level.
For immediate actions to take to preserve and advance access to abortion, check out our Resource Guide.
Check out our resources to guide reflection, support abortion access, and uplift the Reform Movement's commitment to abortion access and reproductive freedom in your congregations and communities for the anniversary of Roe, NCJW’s Repro Shabbat, and beyond.
Reentry
Each year, roughly 650,000 people are released from American prisons and 9 million cycle through the local jails. Despite paying their debt to society, a criminal record brings with it many collateral consequences beyond the sentence already served that creates many barriers for individuals trying to rebuild their lives. In many places, people with criminal convictions face restrictions to accessing public housing, employment, the ballot, food assistance programs, and other public benefits which can have detrimental consequences like homelessness and food insecurity.
Second Chances
- The stigma of a criminal record itself can make the task of finding stable employment incredibly challenging. Studies show that a criminal record reduces the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent for men in general, and 60 percent for African-American men. In response, the Reform Movement has supported efforts to “ban the box” referring to the removal of "boxes" on job applications that force returning citizens to expose their criminal histories to hiring teams before being considered for a position.
Felony Disenfranchisement
- In the United States, millions of citizens are currently disenfranchised (denied the right to vote) as a result of a felony conviction. Of those individuals, 75 percent are currently out of prison and living under probation or parole supervision or in states where voting rights are not restored after they have completed their sentence.
- The Central Conference of American Rabbis has expressed support for the rights of returning citizens to vote and the Reform Movement has long advocated against discriminatory voting laws. During the 2018 Midterm Elections, the Reform Movement actively supported the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition’s campaign to restore the right to vote for the 1.6 million Floridians who had been disenfranchised. Amendment 4, the proposed Florida Voting Restoration Amendment ballot initiative that would allow people who had already paid their debt to society to get their voting rights restored, passed.
International Religious Freedom
The Reform Movement has been an outspoken and steadfast advocate for people around the globe who suffer torture, slavery, starvation, and death because of their religious identity. Having been the victims of religious persecution over the centuries, Jews know what happens when people stand silently by in the face of discrimination and oppression of others. As we seek to live our lives conscious of being created in God's image, we must work to ensure that no one is discriminated based on his or her religious beliefs.
In 1998, President Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act into law. This landmark piece of legislation included the following:
- It addresses all forms of religious persecution recognized by the international community. The law covers both gross violations of human rights and the more subtle and prevalent forms of persecution, such as church burning, job discrimination, stifling of religious expression, and the inability to hold services. This broader definition for religious persecution is consistent with international human rights standards.
- It allows a flexible, case-by-case response on the part of the Administration since one response is not appropriate in all circumstances. The Administration must choose from a broad menu of options ranging from private diplomatic protest to economic sanctions consistent with the level of persecution.
- It requires consultation with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), churches, and synagogues prior to any action to ensure that the U.S. response, if any, will help, not harm, the religious minority on the ground.
- It improves reporting of religious persecution and provides better training and sensitivity to the issue in U.S. foreign policy structures.
- It does not create a "hierarchy of human rights" in which persecution on the basis of religion has a higher priority than political or cultural persecution such that victims are not granted asylum to the detriment of other refugee groups.
- It does not provide automatic sanctions against countries listed in the report of persecuting countries, but rather a menu of options, ranging from a call or a letter to withdrawal of military or economic aid.
The International Religious Freedom Act also created a 10-member independent governmental commission entitled the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The group is charged with advising the President and Congress on strengthening religious freedom and combating religious persecution worldwide. This body is appointed by both Democratic and Republican Leadership, as well as from the Legislative and Executive Branch. As part of the its mandate, the Commission must produce a report on religious persecution following the State Department's release of its annual human rights report and recommend policy to address issues of international religious persecution. Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center, was unanimously elected to be the Commission's first Chairman. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is the current chairman.
The 2019 International Religious Freedom Annual Report named 10 "countries of particular concern”: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. An additional 6 nations- Central African Republic, Nigeria, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam- have been labeled as countries that “meet the CPC standard and should be so designated.”