(JTA) – Ivanka Trump said in an interview that she is “unapologetically” pro-life, taking a side for the first time in the culture wars over abortion, an issue that Jewish law does not take a definite stand on. “I respect all sides of a very personal and sensitive discussion, but I am also a mother of three children, and parenthood affected me in a profound way in terms of how I think about these things,” Trump told Real Clear Politics on Thursday. Trump, who underwent an Orthodox conversion before marrying Jared Kushner, had never expressed a firm opinion on abortion. She has modeled herself as a figure pushing for female empowerment around the world, and some commentators wondered if she was at odds with her father’s presidential administration on the issue.

Jewish law does not consider a fetus a full person and does not claim that life begins at conception – a tenet present in all Christian religions. The life of the mother is paramount in Jewish law, but there are differences among Jewish denominations – and even within the denominations – as to what constitutes a threat to the mother’s life.

A White House aide told Real Clear Politics that “A huge driving part of” Ivanka’s willingness to speak out “is where the Democratic Party has gone.”

Main Photo: Ivanka Trump arrives in Cleveland, Ohio, ahead of the first presidential debate, Sept. 29, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)