Page 74 - EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.1A

Pg: 74 - 3-Back 21-10-31

that the husband died “with a child” and his wife must do
chalitzah6.

3. It should be pointed out that were a Jewish astronaut to
ask whether he is allowed to deposit semen in a sperm
bank to inseminate his wife if he dies, the answer will
possibly be in the negative. There are poskim who always
prohibit artificial insemination, in every situation, even
using a husband’s semen to inseminate his wife. This is out
of concern that the test tube with the sperm may break and

6. This entire discussion concerns the halachic implications of test tube fertiliza-
tion, however, regarding the desirability of carrying out test tube fertilization,
see further, siman 257.
Test Tube Fertilization – Halachic Considerations
1. It is doubtful whether a test tube baby [born from the union of an ovum
and sperm of a married couple], even if he was born in his father’s lifetime, is
considered his father’s child and absolves his mother from chalitzah. Even those
authorities who hold that a child born from artificial insemination is consid-
ered his father’s child, as explained in Igros Moshe, Even Ha’ezer 1:10 [and as
explained earlier in siman 250], refer only to cases where the semen was inserted
directly into the woman’s womb where it fertilized the ovum, which nowadays
is considered virtually“the way of the world.” However, test tube fertilization re-
quires great skill and the assistance of special apparatus and techniques in order
to create an embryo and it is questionable whether such a child is considered his
father’s descendent.
See our discussion of ‘Surrogate Motherhood’ further, siman 259 and in the
Note ibid.
2. It appears that if a gentile, who incurs the death penalty for aborting a
fetus [as explained at length further, siman 286], actively destroys a test tube
containing a fertilized ovum he will not incur the death penalty because the test
tube [and its contents] are not considered a ‘fetus.’ The gentile may possibly not
incur the death penalty for aborting a fetus less than forty days old in its moth-
er’s womb for it is considered ‘mere fluid,’ as explained in maseches Yevamos 69b.
3. It is similarly probable that even according to those opinions that Shabbos
is desecrated in order to save a fetus, even before the fetus is forty days old,
as explained in Korban Nesanel, Yoma chap. 10 #10, because of the rationale
‘Desecrate a single Shabbos for him, so that he should observe many Shabbasos’
[as explained at length earlier, siman 242], it will nevertheless be forbidden to
desecrate Shabbos in order to save a fertilized ovum in a test tube, since it is not
yet considered a fetus.

58 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein