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ashamed to reveal that this is not the child of her deceased
husband.
In a place where yibum is the custom, another mishap
can result involving the wife of the biological father [i.e. the
donor of the sperm], who, if he died without having had
children with her could undergo yibum when in truth she is
exempt, because her late husband already had a child from
the artificial insemination, whom according to several opin-
ions is considered his child in all respects2.
3. The poskim rule out artificial insemination with donor
sperm for additional reasons. The gemara says in maseches
Nedarim (20b),“‘I will purge from you the rebels and those
that transgress against Me” (Yechezkel 20:38) – these are
the offspring of admixture.” The Ran explains that this
refers to a woman who had relations with many men and it
is not known whose son her child is. The Divine Presence
does not rest upon such individuals and in general they are
rebellious and sinful.
4. Another reason cited by the poskim for rejecting artificial
insemination from a donor is the concern that a woman
may conceive after having adulterous relations and will
deny her guilt, claiming that she was artificially inseminat-
ed.

All the above relates to sperm donation by a Jew. However if the do-
nor is a non-Jew, in the opinion of several poskim, the above concerns
fall away. The concern that the child may marry his paternal sister is
no longer relevant since the child does not follow his father’s lineage
and would be allowed to marry his paternal sister from this father
(See Yoreh De’ah 269, Shach, 1, whose comments are even more appli-
cable here). An additional benefit of such insemination is that even if
we decide to rule like the poskim who say that the child of a married
woman who becomes impregnated by a stranger’s sperm [even with-

2. As explained earlier in siman 250.

Donor Sperm 2 41