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In overturning Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court thrust abortion into the headlines, reigniting with new intensity one of the most painful battles of the culture wars in this country. Abortion is a complex legal question, a divisive social issue, and—for many Americans—a deeply religious matter. Too often, religious concerns are written off or warped to serve political agendas. Too often, we fail to recognize the profound convictions that motivate religious people on all sides of this issue. Join us as scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam discuss the different ways in which their traditions understand abortion, and how their beliefs are lived out in a pluralistic, religiously diverse democracy.

Religion After Roe: Abortion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Monday, September 19, at 7:00pm

Donahue Auditorium, Dolan Science Center

John Carroll University.

For directions to campus, click here.

Panelists include:

Religion After Roe

Rahmah Abdulaleem

Rahmah Abdulaleem is the Executive Director of KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, where she works to create a global network of advocates knowledgeable about the gender-equitable principles of Islam and able to advance the cause of Muslim women’s rights in various legal and social environments. A graduate of Duke University, with majors in Religion and Sociology, and the University of Michigan Law School, Ms. Abdulaleem has coordinated and presented at educational and civil rights programs around the world and is an adjunct professor at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.  She has served as an officer of the Capital Area Muslim Bar Association, representative to the National Association of Muslim Lawyers, and Board Member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys Foundation. She works to educate Muslim women in Islamic jurisprudence, leadership, and conflict resolution so that they may become leading agents of change within their communities.

Religion After Roe

Julie Hanlon Rubio

Julie Hanlon Rubio is Shea-Heusamen Professor of Christian Social Ethics and Associate Dean at Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in Berkeley, California. Previously, she taught at St. Louis University for nearly two decades. Her research focuses on Catholic social thought, family, and reconciliation. She has published six books, including Hope for Common Ground: Mediating the Personal and the Political in a Divided Church (Georgetown, 2016). Her new book, Can You Be Catholic and Feminist? will be published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

Religion After Roe

Michal Raucher

Michal Raucher is associate professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. Her research lies at the intersection of the anthropology of women in Judaism, reproductive ethics, and religious authority. She has published on Jewish pronatalism, sexuality and gender in Judaism, religion and bioethics, abortion legislation in Israel, and female religious advisors on the Internet. Her 2020 book, Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority Among Haredi Women, was based on ethnographic research of ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel. Her current project—involving over 500 interviews to date—explores the attitudes of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women toward abortion.

Sponsored by The Breen Chair in Catholic Theology, The Mandel Chair in Jewish Studies, The Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies, and The Tuohy Chair in Interreligious Studies.

Contact:

Theology & Religious Studies, trs@jcu.edu, 216.397.4700