International
Responsa Project
Subject: Pregnancy and life
endangerment Date: July 2009
Answered by: Rabbi Mordechai
Halperin, M.D.
Hi,
I was wondering
if you could help me.
I am in a position
where it is likely that it is unsafe for me to give birth or very risky because
I have hypertrophc cardiomyopthay.
It is a sympton of Noonan Syndrome which I have a
50/50 chance of passing on to a child (my mum and sister have this too. My
mum's cardiomyopathy appeared later in life and she had no problems giving
birth, however her mum died giving birth to her due to a "heart
condition" though they had no idea about cardiomyopthy
back then). Noonan Syndrome can also show itself in other forms along with the
heart condition such as autism, physical deformity etc
(which my sister may have very very mildly and in her
case also a heart lung condition which means that it is 100% not safe for her
to have children).
So I want to have children, and adoption is a possibility but I am
looking into surrogacy too.
I have read
around and it seems that halachically it is a confused area, but it does take
place within orthodoxy however it seems that the women's egg is necessary. Now
this is something which would not be so helpful for me since I am not keen to
pass on the gene, though there is a chance that the gene would not be passed on
anyway, however they have no way of checking.
I have read
these two sources “Halachic Issues in Infertility Treatment” published by Nishmat under “the hilchot
Niddah guide for medical professionals - Jewish women’s health”.1
and “Chief rabbi: Married woman can be surrogate” by Haim Levinson
published on Ynet in November 2006.2 I have also heard that it may
be possible to get a heter for surrogacy using my
partners sperm and another women's egg but I would have to ask the
"right" rabbi. I am also actually hoping that maybe there exists some
kind woman in the Jewish community who may serve as a surrogate mother as in
the case in the article, since it very expensive and also a huge amount of
trust is needed!
Any information
would be of great help,
Kind regards
See Nishmat Avraham (Artscroll
Mesorah pub. 2004) Vol. III pp. 16-17.
But R. Z. Goldberg permits it under strict supervision (in Hebrew:
"on egg donation, surrogacy..." Assia 65-66, pp. 45-49; Tchumin Vol.
5, pp. 273-281; Tchumin Vol. 10, pp. 273-381) and some other great Poskim permit this procedure if those conditions are kept.
I do recommend you to contact Rabbi Menachem Bornstein, the
director of "Puaa" institute.