The procreation underground
Head of welfare portfolio at Bat Yam Municipality leads association convincing women at brink of abortion to maintain pregnancies. Former MK Yael Dayan says, ‘It is atrocious to make a woman do something by economic enticement and by instilling fear’
Yedioth Bat Yam discovered the underground activities of an association led by Refael Barnaz, who is in charge of the welfare portfolio at the Bat Yam Municipality.
The group convinces women in distress not to give up on their pregnancies. The association promises to economically assist, to provide apartments, emotional rehabilitation and more all in the name of the heavens above and increased birthrates.
“A few years ago, someone told me about this 17-year-old girl who got pregnant by my friend and wanted to have an abortion because she was terrified that her parents would know she was pregnant,” said Barnaz about one of the cases after his activities were revealed.
“I met with her boyfriend, who was a soldier and he wasn’t prepared to listen to me and even warned me that if she ends up giving birth, he is out of the picture because his parents cannot know about this.
“When she entered her seventh month, one of the association’s donors agreed to contribute the wedding costs,” said Barnaz excitedly. “They got married and had a son and today they have three children.”
Former Knesset Member Yael Dayan said in response that “it is atrocious to make a woman do something by economic enticement and by instilling the fear that if they have an abortion, bad things will happen, despite the fact that they decided the opposite.
“This is a process supported by religious groups in order to scare women under the guise of motherhood and show them how good they will have it and how important this is and that they are actually saving them.”
A senior official in the municipality’s welfare department said, “If a woman has already come to sit in front of the pregnancy termination committee and some person comes and successfully convinces her or her husband to quickly alter their decision by promising them the world, it doesn’t sound serious to me. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair.”
