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280: CREATING FALSE PANIC 11
AND ARRANGING A
FALSE MARRIAGE IN
ORDER TO PREVENT
AN ABORTION

ɳ Question

In the course of my work with Agudat Efrat, the organization for pre-
venting abortions, a case bordering upon danger to life was referred to
me and I would like to hear a Torah perspective regarding the correct
course of action.

I received a visit from a young girl who became pregnant from a
lecher and they plan on getting married. The girl’s parents are utterly
vetoing this plan. Her mother stridently declared that if her daugh-
ter doesn’t abort the fetus and cancel the marriage she will commit
suicide. From inquiries among members of the mother’s family it
appears the mother’s threat is serious. It transpires that the brother of
the girl’s mother committed suicide only two months earlier, so this
history of suicide is a good reason to believe the mother’s threat is se-
rious and that she will carry it out if the pregnancy is not terminated
immediately.

Shocked by this threat, the boy and girl had already made an
appointment for an abortion. I called them in for a talk and after
some persuasion I proposed an idea that might seem cruel but that
succeeded, with Heaven’s assistance. I suggested that the girl break
off contact with her parents and with her partner and that she travel
far away and spend a few days living on her own in some undisclosed

336 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein