Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 2,000 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy, last week announced the launch of the CJV Healthcare Council, to serve medical practitioners and others in the healthcare industry. The CJV Healthcare Council will advocate for religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and public policy aligned with Jewish values in medical care. CJV said it was responding to both Orthodox Jewish physicians and other pro-values organizations who were seeking an authentic Jewish voice responding to current challenges.
"The tenets and morals of Judaism have remained unchanged, a constant guiding light for millennia," said Dr. Yehuda Mond, an urgent care physician in Baltimore, MD, who will serve as the first Chair of the CJV Healthcare Council's Executive Committee. "By contrast, progressive groups have proven that there is no limit to the boundaries they can and will push today. It is critical that doctors and healthcare providers act to protect the religious rights of all Americans, and for the right of qualified medical practitioners to administer appropriate and reasonable care consonant with their beliefs."
Dr. Adena Homnick, a Physician's Assistant in Lakewood, NJ, added: "We must feel comfortable expressing our religious beliefs. Yet today we might be attacked as prejudiced and bigoted for having them. If we don’t advocate for religious freedom now, our very lifestyle may be threatened, much less our ability to practice medicine in accordance with our conscience."
"In short order, we received a request from a group looking for a Jewish ally in a legal case affecting medical care," said CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, "and one from an Orthodox Jewish physician hoping to alert fellow practitioners and the public about the dangers to America's youth posed by the left's radical ideology on sexuality and gender. It was clear that this was a void that needed to be filled, and that forming the CJV Healthcare Council was the best way to provide an authentic Jewish voice. Dr. Mond and all the members of the Executive Committee are both well-qualified medical experts, and Jews fully committed to living out our beliefs in their practice."
Health care workers, pro-values groups, and organizations representing other religious groups welcomed news of the formation of the CJV Healthcare Council.
Dr. Donna Harrison, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said, "The Coalition for Jewish Values demonstrates that the defense of human beings in the womb is not something which has recently arisen from American politics, but is a position older than Hippocrates. CJV dispels the strawman caricatures created by pro-abortion activists, and its Healthcare Council will be a tremendous asset to the pro-life medical profession—providing living proof that medical professionals in multiple faith traditions have valued human life and do not agree with elective abortion."
Dr. Craig Treptow, President of the Catholic Medical Association, observed that "When we advocate for pro-life policies and freedom of conscience for medical practitioners, certain groups accuse us of insensitivity, if not worse, towards those of the Jewish faith. The Coalition for Jewish Values Healthcare Council refutes that argument, and demonstrates our shared commitment to an American culture valuing life and religious freedom.”
And Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, Senior VP Bioethics and Public Policy, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, said that "The Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) is thrilled with the formation of the CJV Healthcare Council. There is a desperate need for voices from different faith backgrounds to address the increasing trend to move away from the foundations of Hippocratic medicine toward a medicine ruled by ideology."
Jewish medical professionals and others employed in provision of healthcare are invited to join the Healthcare Council.