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serves its viability, and defrosted at an appropriate time for impreg-
nating the woman. In this way a desirable donor can be chosen. The
insemination is performed with a special syringe which deposits the
sperm high up in the vagina, in the region of the cervix (neck of the
uterus). This is done on the exact day when ovulation is calculated to
take place. Needless to say, the donor’s identity is known only to the
physician – so much for the actual process.

It seems to me that artificial insemination raises a number of
thorny halachic problems and issues.

1. Does this not involve mamzerus (illegitimacy), since this child
has been born to a married woman but not from her husband? Or do
we say that since there was no natural act of intercourse the child is
kosher and may marry a Jewish spouse?

2. What about the donor? Since the sperm is not obtained in
the course of normal sexual intercourse but by masturbation, doesn’t
this involve the prohibition of emitting semen for naught?! Or do
we say that since the purpose of this act is procreation there is no
prohibition?

Sometimes the donor’s sperm is mixed with sperm from the hus-
band sperm in order to create the possibility that the husband’s sperm
fertilized the egg. However, if the husband has no sperm cells or if his
sperm cells prove to be infertile this “possibility” is largely a matter of
conferring “peace of mind” since there is no doubt whatsoever that it
is not his sperm which led to pregnancy.

I am certain that this problem has many far reaching ramifications
that I have not encountered and that I have only touched on the tini-
est part of it.

Dr. Aharon Czechnover, Tel Aviv

ɳ Response

Before approaching the question of whether or not a child born as the
result of artificial insemination using a stranger’s sperm to impreg-
nate a married woman, is regarded as a mamzer [who, as the issue of

2 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein