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date: 07 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter begins with a discussion of fundamental convictions of Judaism that affect Jewish approaches to moral issues at the beginning of life, and then considers Jewish views about preventing pregnancy through contraception and abortion, and, conversely, assisting those with infertility problems. The analysis is also used to discuss embryonic stem cell research and genetic testing.

Keywords: Judaism, Jewish ethics, birth control, conception, abortion, infertility, stem cell research, genetic testing

Elliot N. Dorff

Elliot N. Dorff (Ph.D, Columbia; Rabbi, Jewish Theological Seminary of America) is Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at American Jewish University and a Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law. He has been awarded four honorary doctoral degrees, and he has chaired four scholarly organizations -- the Jewish Philosophy Association, the Jewish Law Association, the Society of Jewish Ethics, and the Academy of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies. He has served on federal government advisory commissions on health care, sexual ethics, and the ethics of research on human subjects, and he currently serves on the California Advisory Commission on Stem Cell Research. Author of over 200 published articles and twelve books on Jewish thought, law, and ethics, he has edited fourteen other books as well. His books on ethics include Matters of Life and Death (on medical ethics), To Do the Right and the Good (on social ethics), Love Your Neighbor and Yourself (on personal ethics), and The Way Into Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World).

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