שאלות על IVF

1. There is disagreement among the posqim on whether or not a man fulfills the mitsva to “be fruitful and multiply” through IVF.

2. If there is strict supervision of the IVF process ensuring that it is carried out according to halakha, then most posqim encourage the procedure.

See what Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, the rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, wrote on this issue:

It is proper to remember that if we prohibit in-vitro fertilization, we will cause at least one of two things: either the husband will be unable to fulfill the precept “Be fruitful and multiply,” leading to ongoing tension and bitterness within the household, or the couple will separate, thereby destroying the household. Perhaps this consideration is insufficient to decide the issue, but in my opinion it seems right to at least mention it.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Responsa Yabbi‘a Omer vol. 2, 1:12):

The point made by Rabbi Nebenzahl has indeed decided the issue for other rabbis.

(From Halperin, M., “Modern Perspectives on Medical Halakhah,” Assia-Jewish Medical Ethics 1, no. 2 [May 1989]: 11-19.)

See also the opinion of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on IVF in an article by Rabbi Yosef Simcha Ginzberg and Rabbi Avraham Baruch Pevsner in the upcoming issue of Assia (no. 61-62; Hebrew).

3. The third question is first and foremost a medical question. From the halakhic perspective one should consider IVF only when from the medical perspective it is the indicated procedure.

4. I don’t know if there is a list of all the ‘accepted’ fertility clinics that perform IVF. I would direct this question to Rabbi Menachem Burstein, the head of the PUAH Institute (Fertility and Medicine in Accordance with Halakha). The phone number of PUAH is +972-2-5375050, and the fax number is +972-2-5373053.