Pro-life Efrat (illustration)
Pro-life Efrat (illustration)Israel news photo: Efrat

Orit Zuaretz (Kadima / Livni) demands, in a letter to Besheva magazine, that the magazine refrain from awarding the Jerusalem Prize to pro-life NGO Efrat and its chairman, Dr. Eli Shussheim.

In a letter to Besheva Director David Saada, Zuaretz claims that "the organization's dubious methods of operation were exposed more than once over the last few years."

She pointed to a Channel 2 report about the death of Raz Atias, whose girlfriend was pregnant and who did not want to abort the baby, despite pressure to do so from his parents. Atias planned to commit suicide with his girlfriend and was shot to death by mistake by policemen. The Channel 2 report blamed unnamed Efrat "volunteers" for allegedly pressuring the young parents not to abort the pregnancy. The organization denied the allegation.

Zuaretz, who recently quit Kadima and is now Number 10 in Tzipi Livni's party, explained that "giving the Jerusalem Prize to an organization that is motivated by a missionary world view that opposes a woman's right to her body, is like granting legitimacy to the organization's invasive behavior and cooperation with its immoral methods of operation."

Jewish law allows abortion when the mother's life is in danger. A rabbi must be consulted if there are other reasons for wanting an abortion. The Efrat organization informs women of their options, allowing them to make a choice based on knowledge.