EFRAT, the Committee to Rescue Israel’s Babies, released its annual report showing that calls to its hotline for assistance from pregnant women in Israel have risen nearly 25 percent over the past three years. The callers are part of what EFRAT estimates are the 60-percent of Israeli woman who contemplate aborting their babies because of financial reasons, not because they do not want a child. The Israel Ministry of Health recently reported that abortions in the country had been declining over the past few decades.

EFRAT said it received 5,563 inquiries in 2013, compared to 4,302 inquiries in 2011.

“For almost four decades we have enabled more than 56,000 Israeli woman to keep their babies, this is the only reason that less abortions have occurred in Israel, despite having some of the most liberal abortion laws in the western world” said Dr. Eli Schussheim, director of EFRAT-C.R.I.B. “By removing societal and financial pressure from mothers-to-be, we have devised a simple but effective alternative for many women who otherwise would have had abortions in Israel.”

Since 1977, EFRAT-C.R.I.B has offered woman with proven financial difficulty all of the essentials needed to deliver and care for their baby in the form for up to two years. These packages include everything from strollers to cribs, to food and clothing. In some cases food packages are also supplied to supplement the rest of the family.

“Woman come to us in desperate need, there is nothing they want more in the world than to keep their babies, we simply offer a shoulder to lean on and the financial peace of mind to make their dream come true” said Ruth Tidhar, assistant director and chief social worker at.

EFRAT-C.R.I.B’s 3,000 trained volunteers and social workers are constantly available to provide women facing an unwanted pregnancy with one-on-one counseling and emotional support backed by EFRAT’s assurance of physical assistance. Since 1977, EFRAT has assisted over 56,000 mothers give birth. Through a combination of education and economic assistance, EFRAT has helped establish a new generation of Jewish families.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)