Efrat activists allegedly so traumatized a young girl about to have an abortion that she called off the procedure. Instead, just a few days later, now emotionally unstable, she and her boyfriend tried to commit suicide. To stop it, police had to shoot and kill him as she stood next to him.
An Efrat banner. The text reads: "Eventually, birth will determine our existence as Jewish state.
Ha'aretz reports:
…[L]ast week, abortion rights were thrust into the limelight by a tragedy. A teenage boy, 18-year-old Raz Atias, was killed in a standoff with police who were trying to prevent him and his pregnant girlfriend from committing suicide. Police had found Atias and his girlfriend outside of Jerusalem, with Atias holding a gun to his girlfriend's head and threatening to kill her and then himself.
The details of the incident are still not entirely clear, but the girlfriend’s sister reported that members of the Israeli anti-abortion organization Efrat had visited the pregnant teenager in the hospital to “brainwash” her against having an abortion, which led to significant emotional turmoil for the young couple.
The organization denied taking such action. “Absolute nonsense,” Efrat chairman Dr. Eli Schussheim told Haaretz this week.…
Despite Schussheim's claim, there are eyewitnesses who have seen Efrat activists do exactly what Schussheim denies.
And it seems in this case, Efrat's actions killed.
Note: Many haredim believe Israel has very liberal abortion laws. The truth, however, is that it does not:
This is more restrictive than several European countries.A pregnant woman requesting termination of her pregnancy must appear before a three-person committee comprising two doctors and a social worker and explain why she falls into one of four categories. She is under the age of 18 or over the age of 40; she became pregnant either through rape or incest, or outside of wedlock; the pregnancy could put her physical or mental health at risk; or the fetus could have a defect.