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Teens consider Jewish stake in abortion battle one year after Dobbs decision
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.
(JTA) — One year after the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson reversed the federal guarantee of women’s abortion rights, a group of young activists are encouraging their peers to consider the ruling’s ramifications through a distinctly Jewish and teen-focused lens.
“I was distraught after the Dobbs decision leak came out, and I did not know how anybody in power could do that,” said Emily Levine, a junior at Scarsdale (New York) High School, after a webinar by and for teens that she co-organized to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, the gist of which was leaked in May 2022. “Especially to me as somebody getting ready to go off to college, feeling like I had no control and it was my body and my life that they were affecting.”
Levine, a participant in the Kol Koleinu Teen Feminist Fellowship — a program of Moving Traditions, a Jewish youth organization — partnered with another fellow, Noa Gezler, to organize the webinar. Held June 11, it included 30 teens.
Gezler, a junior at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York, worked on the event in response to the “existential crisis” she faced following the court decision.
Panelists expert in medicine, law and religion addressed the intersection of reproductive rights and Judaism.
“The overarching piece that links my Jewish work with my legal work is really about the power of text and interpretation,” said panelist Ariella Dubler, head of school at the Heschel School during the 90-minute event. “Roe[v. Wade], Dobbs, any issue that you care about that has constitutional roots, there are multiple ways to look at that text,” said Dubler, previously the George Welwood Murray Professor of Legal History at Columbia Law School.
Most American Jews and their representative organizations back abortion access, although Orthodox organizations support restrictions that allow abortion only under rare circumstances.
Last year Moving Traditions issued a statement calling the Dobbs decision a “horrifying rollback of fundamental rights for all people in the U.S.”
Dubler urged the teens “to really master a set of skills of interpretation that will let you work with other people to build movements and power around the issues you care about.”
“The best way to fight for what you believe in is to really appreciate the power of your interpretive skills in conversation with others,” said Dubler. “What I hope everyone going off to college takes with you is that you are as powerful as the skills and the communities that you build.”
Panelist Emily Birenbaum, a Jewish obstetrician/gynecologist in Berkeley, California, said that after taking a long break from clinical gynecology, she felt a “moral obligation” to return to her prior field to ensure that young women were receiving appropriate reproductive care in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision. “What brought me back to women’s health was the fact that women’s rights were being trampled and taken away and somebody who was not ready to become a parent was going to be forced into becoming a parent,” she said.
Amanda Kleinman, senior cantor at the Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York, reviewed Biblical texts that convey understandings of abortion in Judaism. Kleinman cited a case from Exodus where a pregnant woman sustains an injury as a bystander during a fight and miscarries. The party who shoved the woman is required to pay a fine, but is not held accountable for murder.
Noa Gezler, a junior at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York, co-organized the Moving Traditions event in response to the “existential crisis” she faced following the court decision striking down Roe v. Wade. (Screenshot)
“The fetus holds a status that is different from the status for instance of the mother of the fetus, and the life of the pregnant person is the most important value in this conversation. The Jewish tradition even requires that a pregnancy be terminated if the life of the person who is pregnant is at risk,” she said.
As a native of Texas, which has one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States, she described her “strong obligation as a spiritual leader of a congregation to use the platform that I have to help make sure that members of my congregation have the opportunity to explore this issue [abortion] from a Jewish perspective.”
After the webinar, Gezler and Levine told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they became involved with Moving Traditions and designed the webinar to educate other teens about restrictions on reproductive rights and encourage them to act. “It is really hard to get taken seriously [as a teen] and educating yourself and having the facts and knowing what you are talking about. Being able to back that up has been really important to getting what we want [and] to make our voices heard,” said Levine.
She and Gezler want teens to be empowered to fight for social change. “Teens are the future. Teens are the present. Teens have the power to make this change and not only that, but this is our world and we are soon going to be the people in positions of power, in leadership positions, controlling the future of the world,” said Levine.
Reflecting on the event, Gezler said “the effect it has on me as a Jewish teen is that it gives me hope. Looking at the incredibly wise Jewish adults sharing their knowledge with Jewish teens and rallying the Jewish community in the face of challenge teaches me about my own rights as a Jew but also shows me that my community supports my religious and privacy rights.”
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The post Teens consider Jewish stake in abortion battle one year after Dobbs decision appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Somalia’s South West State Says It Has Severed Ties With the Federal Government
FILE PHOTO: Somalia’s presidential candidate of South West state Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed speaks inside the Somali Parliament house in Mogadishu, Somalia April 30, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Feisal Omar/File Photo
Somalia’s South West state said on Tuesday it was suspending all cooperation and relations with the government in Mogadishu, the latest sign of strain in the Horn of Africa country’s fragile federal system.
At a press conference, South West officials accused the federal government of arming militias and trying to unseat the state’s president, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen. Somalia’s defense and information ministers did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Disputes over constitutional changes, elections and the balance of power between Mogadishu and regional administrations repeatedly open up political fault lines in Somalia. The South West administration says relations with Mogadishu worsened after the federal government pushed through constitutional amendments opposed by some state leaders.
Travel agencies told Reuters on Tuesday that commercial flights between Mogadishu and Baidoa, the administrative capital of South West state, had been halted. Humanitarian flights, including for United Nations operations, were continuing. Baidoa, which lies about 245 km (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, is a politically and militarily sensitive city because it hosts federal troops, regional security forces and international humanitarian operations in a zone affected by drought, conflict and displacement.
The Mogadishu government’s relations with other states have also been fraught. Somaliland declared independence in 1991 and has long been outside Mogadishu’s control. The administration of semi-autonomous Puntland said in March 2024 it would no longer recognize the federal government until disputed constitutional amendments were approved in a nationwide referendum.
Semi-autonomous Jubbaland suspended ties with Mogadishu in November 2024 in a dispute over regional elections.
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Report: Iran Sees Control of Strait of Hormuz as Victory Over US, Israel
An LPG gas tanker at anchor as traffic is down in the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Shinas, Oman, March 11, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
i24 News – Iran is showing no indication it is ready to end the war with the United States and Israel, as officials say Tehran is relying on its control over the Strait of Hormuz to increase global economic pressure and strengthen its position.
According to regional officials cited by The Washington Post, Iran is rejecting diplomatic efforts to identify an off-ramp and instead escalating attacks on neighboring countries. An Iranian diplomat said the strategy is to “make this aggression super expensive for the aggressors,” as Tehran faces sustained military pressure.
The Strait of Hormuz remains central to Iran’s calculations. The waterway carries roughly one-fifth of global fuel shipments, and its partial closure has disrupted energy markets. US President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour deadline for Iran to reopen the route, warning of further escalation if it does not comply.
Iranian officials and diplomats said the leadership views its ability to maintain pressure through the strait as a short-term success, even as infrastructure damage mounts. “They don’t feel any pressure to negotiate,” one European diplomat based in the Gulf said, adding that Iran sees its influence over oil markets as a form of leverage.
At the same time, efforts to mediate a ceasefire have so far failed. Officials from Qatar and Oman approached Iran last week, but Tehran said it would only engage if US and Israeli strikes stopped first. An Iranian diplomat said the country would not accept a “premature ceasefire” and is seeking guarantees, including compensation and commitments to prevent future attacks.
The war has already caused significant damage. The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets have been struck across Iran, while Iranian authorities report over 1,200 civilian deaths. The conflict has also expanded regionally, with Iranian strikes targeting energy infrastructure in Gulf states following attacks on its own facilities.
Despite mounting losses, analysts say Iran’s leadership believes prolonging the conflict could shift pressure onto Washington and its allies through rising energy prices and regional instability. “We’re still on an escalatory path,” said Alan Eyre, a former US official, adding that Tehran is attempting to “up the costs” rather than move toward negotiations.
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Persistent Iran War, Energy Price Surge Set to Sway Wavering Stocks
Stock ticker. Photo: Ahmad Ardity/Wikimedia Commons.
A Middle East crisis that has convulsed markets should remain the focal point for Wall Street in the near term, as investors stay glued to developments in Iran and the fallout from surging energy prices.
As the US-Israeli war on Iran stretches to three weeks, an over 40% jump in oil prices is driving worries about higher inflation and stagnating economic growth.
Inflationary concerns on Friday were prompting markets to rule out any equity-friendly interest rate cuts this year, which investors previously had been counting on, with futures trading instead suggesting modest chances of hikes in 2026. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed deep uncertainty at the US central bank’s meeting on Wednesday about how the crisis would factor into the economy, muddying its ability to forecast conditions ahead.
US stocks suffered sharp declines to end the week. The benchmark S&P 500 stock index posted its fourth straight weekly decline and hit a six-month low, while the Nasdaq Composite ended down nearly 10% below its October all-time high.
Middle East tensions escalated this week. Iran attacked energy facilities across the region following Israel’s strike on its gas field, while officials told Reuters on Friday that the US military is deploying thousands of Marines to the Middle East.
“This is a situation that’s so fluid,” said Chris Fasciano, chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network. “We could have a resolution in the next week or it could go on for some time. And the longer it goes on, you start to think about the impacts it could have on the US economy.”
WATCHING OIL, STOCKS’ ‘ORDERLY’ REACTION
Swings in crude prices have rippled through asset classes. US crude settled around $98 a barrel on Friday, while Brent ended around $112. In addition to the attacks on energy infrastructure, traffic has stalled in the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.
The 20-day correlation between the S&P 500 and US crude stood at -0.89 late on Friday, according to LSEG data, a strong inverse relationship that showed they have tended to move in opposite directions.
“If you’re a trader, you watch oil prices because I do think that that’s generally giving the leading indicator as to how the financial markets are viewing the outlook for the conflict,” said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp.
The S&P 500 energy sector, which includes shares of oil companies, has gained since crude prices began to spike in late February, but the group accounts for less than a 4% weight in the benchmark index.
The latest declines left the S&P 500 down 6.8% from its record closing high set in late January. The pullback has mostly lacked the chaotic quality of the abrupt equity slide last April following President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement that set off broad economic worries, Fasciano said.
“This has been fairly orderly, which I think is an encouraging sign,” Fasciano said. “And I think it’s because the underlying fundamentals for corporate America are still fairly robust and are offering some support.”
TREASURY YIELDS, MARKET TECHNICALS ALSO IN FOCUS
Fast-climbing Treasury yields, driven higher by the energy price spike and caution from global central banks, were looming as a risk factor for stocks. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was last at 4.38% on Friday, its highest level since last summer.
Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services, said he was watching whether the 10-year Treasury yield sustainably rises above 4.3%, which could increase pressure on stocks, while he was also eyeing 4.5% as a key level.
“Rates going higher means borrowing costs are somewhat higher. And then that could actually slow the economy,” Lerner said. “At some point, if they keep going higher, then the relative attractiveness of (bond) yields becomes more attractive relative to equities.”
Stocks were also around key technical levels. The S&P 500 on Thursday closed below its 200-day moving average — a closely watched long-term trendline — for the first time since May. With another decline on Friday, the index ended at its lowest point since September and fell below November lows that strategists had also identified as worrisome levels.
Reports on manufacturing, services activity and consumer sentiment highlight a relatively light week ahead for US economic data. A major energy conference in Houston that will feature top global industry executives could draw Wall Street’s attention.
Events in Iran were likely to loom largest. In a note on Thursday morning, analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management said the latest developments were “pushing markets to price in a higher risk of prolonged conflict, deeper infrastructure damage and higher-for-longer crude prices.”
“While a less damaging outcome in the Strait of Hormuz remains possible, recent events have narrowed that path and heightened the risk of continued volatility,” the UBS analysts said.