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257: IN VITRO
FERTILIZATION IN
ORDER TO PREVENT
GENETIC DISEASE

ɳ Question

As is known, some genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs can be diag-
nosed while the fetus is still in its mother's womb. Around a year
ago, physicians in England discovered a way to identify the gender
of an egg that had been fertilized by artificial insemination in a test
tube, before its transfer to the mother’s womb. Some genetic diseases
affect one gender but not the other. The question therefore arises:
is it proper to propose to parents who are carriers of these disease
bearing genes that they should not embark upon pregnancy in the
normal way but avail themselves of artificial insemination and in vitro
fertilization so that only an embryo of the gender that is not suscep-
tible to the disease will be transplanted into the mother’s womb, thus
avoiding any halachic problem of aborting a fetus that suffers from
this genetic disease?

In the near future physicians will be able not only to determine
the gender of the embryo but also whether or not it is sick. In that
situation, is the physician treating the family that carries disease
bearing genes, allowed to offer – or may it even be preferable that
he offer – in vitro fertilization with the object of not implanting an
embryo affected with the disease, as opposed to their embarking on

82 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein