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מכון שלזינגר לחקר הרפואה על פי ההלכה

קושי בזיהוי מין היילוד

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23 באוקטובר 2018

הרב המשיב: הרב ד"ר מרדכי הלפרין

שאלה:

1. If a child is born with ambiguous genitalia—i.e., externally, the child’s gender cannot be determined, will the identification of testes by ultrasound establish the child as a male and remove the status of tumtum? Conversely, does the absence of testes on ultrasound enable us to establish the child as a female? Rambam in Hilkhot Ishut brings the Gemara that implies surgical exploration is the primary way to remove the status of tumtum and establish correct gender. Would ultrasound qualify as sufficient halakhic proof in clarifying gender?

2. Is it appropriate to use a prenatal ultrasound in gender identification, without any obvious medical benefit?

תשובה:

1. The tumtum that is discussed in Jewish sources is someone born with a natural covering on the genitalia so that, in the past, without surgery, it was impossible to determine if it was male or female. In our days such a situation is very rare but theoretically, if ultrasound can definitely establish the presence or absence of testes then the ultrasound results should be halakhically acceptable.

2. If the ultrasound examination does not cause any damage, why should it be forbidden? In other words, there is no prohibition against performing an ultrasound in order to determine the gender of the fetus unless the results would cause the parents to undergo a forbidden procedure. For example, in China the results of ultrasound examinations often lead to induced abortion if the parents hear that the fetus is female.

There are cases where poskim not only permit but even recommend ultrasound in order to determine the gender of the fetus (see Assia 61-62 [April 1998], p. 83, in Hebrew).

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