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must reckon on Heaven holding him responsible for the loss of many
children, because many children could have issued from that baby.

2. There are several reasons why it causing this panic was permitted:

[1] As has been explained aborting a fetus is forbidden, the
mother’s suicide threat notwithstanding. The girl’s mother
was thus in danger if no abortion is performed and the
fright that gripped her drove away her desire to commit
suicide, saving her life. The induced panic was thus an act
of rescue for her.

[2] The parents brought this upon themselves by demanding
that their daughter have an abortion. Had an abortion
been performed they would have been punished by the
Heavenly Court for the sin of killing a fetus. It is therefore
beneficial for them to have suffered this fright for they
were thereby saved from something worse, namely being
punished for killing a fetus and for the sin of “Do not put a
stumbling block in front of a blind man” i.e. having caused
the physician to perform a non-halachically sanctioned
abortion and their daughter to consent to this sin.

[3] Every person is obligated to endure serious fright if this
can save the life of another person or of a fetus. This can
be proven from the Magen Avraham’s comments (Orach
Chaim 156:2) in regard to the gemara in Shabbos. (33b)
The gemara states that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his
son went to hide in a cave because they were concerned
lest the Romans harass their wives and owing to women’s
fickle nature, succeed in getting them to reveal their hiding
place. The Magen Avraham writes that this implies that a
person is allowed to flee when his life is endangered even if
by doing so he will cause his colleague to suffer. Apparently
then, he writes, a person is obligated to suffer distress in
order to prevent his colleague being kill undeservedly. The
Yad Avraham (Yoreh De’ah 157:1) goes even further, writing

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